Houses of the North
by Saber Shishika
Summary: There are many houses in the north yet not much is known about many of them. In this book written by a southern master is a short overview about many of the northern houses, the land under their control and the people living upon it as well as their vassals. It was written so that southern lords can read up about their northern neighboors in a few minute time.
1. A short overview of the North

**Hello this is my first Story ever written and my little contribution to the World of ice and Fire. Because I am quite terrible with writing dialoge and characters I have decided to contribute in the fashion of world building. Anything I write in here should not be taken as lorefull but can be used by any that wish to.**

The North is one of the constitutet regions of the Seven Kingdoms and was once a sovereign nation ruled by their own kings. These kings were known as the Kings of Winter or Kings of the North before the continent was unified by Aegon Targaryen's Conquest (henceforth AC). It is the largest of the regions under the crown. The lands extend from the border of the New Gift, that is under control of the Nights Watch, in the north to the Neck far to the south. To the east lies the Shivering Sea while the west coast lies by the Sunset Sea.

The North has been ruled by the Starks for thousands of years from their seat of power, the castle known as Winterfell. The house has conquered much of the north in a span of several centuries and has often put down uprisings for independence in these years of conquest. Even today there are those that are not satisfied with being ruled over and as such the last rebellion was not even a century ago started by the Skagosi. Yet there is still the ever-present thread of the Bolton's and other major lords that could always get to ambitious.

The most renown holdings of the North are spread well across the North. By the giant river known as the White Knife lies the fifth largest city of Westeros. By the Falling River(the third of the tree rivers on the western shore) lies the most well-known town of the north Barrowton. There is the newly forming town known as Riverhold to consider as well. Then there is Winterfell and their rivals castle the Dreadfort to name just a few of the major northern castles. To the south there is the shield that protects from land invasions. Moat Cailin with more towers in ruin than standing and yet still a castle none would dare attack. To the farthest North lies the most impressive construction of Westeros simply named the Wall.

Geography:  
While it is a common saying that the North is as large as all other kingdoms combined it is in truth roughly a third the size of Westeros instead of half. The region is mostly sparsely populated, with vast wilderness, forests, pine-covered hills and snow-capped mountains, speckled with tiny villages and holdfast. Its climate is cold and harsh in winter (though most say this is an understatement) and occasionally it will snow even in summer. The North has two major land barriers, the Wall in the north and the Neck to the south. The North is bound on each side by major seas, the Shivering Sea to the east and the Sunset Sea to the west.

The North hold the largest forest of Westeros with the Wolfswood that spans from the Northern Mountains to Seadragon Point. South of the Wolfswood are some of the biggest lakes of Westeros and the Rills that are a mountainous region with often gentle slopes. The lands of the Neck are a swamp region that helped stave of many invasions into the North. Thought to the east of these swamps is a peninsula known as Flint's Finger that lies by the Blazewater Bay in the north and Ironman's Bay to the South. The White Knife splits the North nearly in two right down the middle and ends in the Long Lake and has many tributaries flowing into it. Other known rivers in the North are the Fever River, the Broken Branch, the Weeping Water and the Last River though there are two more major rivers whose names are often debated about. In this work we will use the names the local smallfolk use when talking about their rivers and lakes and not the ones that were found in dusty old tomes.

People:  
Most Northmen are descended from the First Men, although there have been centuries of intermarriage with the Andals who conquered the lands south of the Neck. The Old Tongue spoken by the First Men of antiquity has been replaced in the north by the Common Tongue, with the earlier language now only spoken beyond the Wall. Northern accounts can be considered "frosted". Northmen such as Karstark's and Umbers are often large in stature and have thick beards, long hair, and heavy cloaks of wool or fur. Northmen are sometimes referred to as "wolves" by Ironborn and Southrons.

The constant cold and the iron grip of winter set apart the northerners from the people of the kingdoms south of the Neck. The north's terrain and climate do not easily yield the necessities of daily life. Northmen place less of an emphasis on courtly ritual and culture, and instead prefer hunting and brawling. Their tourneys are often melees and rarely feature jousting. Guest right is treasured in the north. Northmen have long memories, and a lord who does not seek his rightful vengeance threatens to have his own men turn on him.

Some Northman live in remote, distant areas where they act as little more than clans and tribes. These remote folk, such as the Crannogmen, the northern mountain clans, and the Skagosi, are still vassals of the Starks, however, and are allowed to maintain their own ways and traditions as long as they remain loyal to Winterfell. Some maesters believe the blood of Cape Kraken's people is closer to that of Ironborn than Northman.

Most of the north's people still follow the old gods and their heart trees, and have little inclination for newer religions. There are a few houses who follow the Faith of the Seven, including Houses Manderly, Wells, and Whitehill. Due to its religious aspect, most Northman refuse to take holy orders and thus cannot become knights, although some northern cavalry are knights who still follow the old gods instead of the Seven. Most knights of the north live in the region's southern lands, such as White Harbor and the barrowlands. Heraldry in the north is simpler than that in southern Westeros, showing the lesser influence that chivalry has had there.

Northmen hold the Night's Watch in high regard, and many lords send annual gifts to support the black brothers.

Economy:  
As the North is largely underdeveloped there are few roads of importance here. The road best taken care of is the Kingsroad while some lords to tend to have their own network of roads rivers are often the main lane of transportation around the North. Trade items from the North include wool, hides and timber to the south. While the south sends wine, food and other goods to the north. Many of the other northern products are kept in the north because of their rather small rates of production and the preference for buying goods from the north over those from the south. The more luxurious produce of the north do find some acclaim even in the south for their quality.

The north like the rest of the Seven Kingdoms used the common currency that was spread throughout the kingdoms by the Targerian's. The new currency uses Gold Dragons, Silver Stags and Bronze Coppers for currency. The North still has a mint in White Harbour that produces some of the Silver Stags used by the Kingdoms and is commissioned by the kings for the production of new coin when there comes the need for it.

The trade that comes to the north is mostly based on the east coast where there are fewer raiders and pirates then the west coast. The west has trade coming from the south but it is significantly smaller than that of the eastern coast. Some of it has probably to do with the existence of Essos and their booming commerce and need for wood from the North.

Military:  
The North, once again excluding House Grudge, can perhaps raise a host of forty-five thousand soldiers. Gathering such a number would take rather long considering how large the North is and how remote some places are. Still the major lords do have some soldiers at the ready that can be mustered fast if the need for them comes. Yet the lords that do not wish to lose to many of their men in war use this to their advantage and send only a small force.

Their military strength is about equal to that of the Vale of Arryn and Dorne (thought Dorne is often attributed with embellishing that number to look more impressive. A more realistic account holds their number at the same size of the Stormlands.) This estimate is only taking into account the number of soldiers that they could perhaps raise and neither the quality of the soldiers or the commanders and other such important factors like military knowledge.

The cavalry to infantry ratio is one to four with the cavalry mostly consisting of the usual northern cavalry. There are some houses that contribute more or less to this number and some like the Manderly's, Whitehill's and Dustin's are known to contribute some of the few northern based Knights to the army. These men are often the heavy cavalry force of the army.


	2. House Stark of Winterfell

**Just a little recomidation for anyone that hasn't seen it yet. Watch Shadiversitys video on Winterfell. He build the entire thing in Sketch Up and it looks stunning.**

The Starks are one of the oldest families of Westeros. They claim descendance from the high king Garth Greenhand who allegedly lead the first man into Westeros. After the extinction of house Gardener and the usurpation of the Durrandon's the house can claim to be the oldest still existing family in Westeros. This claim brings much honour to the house as it speaks well about their military, political and economic power even if the south often tends to ignore the North and their claims.

Over the centuries of their rule there have been many famous members of this house. Brandon „The Bloody Blade" Stark is claimed to be Garths son and killed so many monsters/people that a lake in the Reach had to be renamed as the red lake. The first Stark who was mentioned as a king was Brandon „The Builder" who had built the Wall, Storm's End as well as the Hightower of Oldtown. There were many lord Starks who accomplished great deeds and are remembered till today by their descendance. Men, such as Brandon „The Breaker" , Theon „The Hungry Wolf" and Walton „The Moon King" are remembered as great kings and conquerors while kings such as Torrhen „The King who Knelt" were remembered as the rather poor kings. Yet even they still managed to hold the North under their control. Over many wars they managed to gain the allegiance of the entire North and have often married the daughters of defeated enemies to form bonds with them. In this time, they were called the Kings of Winter or King of the North. These were exchanged to Warden of the North after the Targaryen conquest of Westeros.

While it is no longer known how or when the house received the sword, they have one of the rare Valyrian steel swords in their ownership. The blade was named Ice and has replaced the previous ancestral sword of the same name. A great sword that fits the image of the brute northerner is the form of the sword. It is undecorated with any direwolf symbols missing and meticulously taken care of by the household leaders.

The house follows the faith of the old god's and holds the custom of burying dead members in their crypts. Lords of the house receive a statue in their likeliness while other members of the family rarely receive this honour. The statues will have statues of direwolfs lying at their feet and a sword is put on their lap to let the spirits rest.

Starks are known to have long faces, grey eyes as well as brown hair. They are known for either their melancholy and iciness or their wildness that is also known as „Wolf's Blood". By having married wargs some Starks have magical abilities hidden in them. The wildness of the Wolf's Blood is often attributed to their founder and his rather bloody tale but also held responsible for the Starks managing to conquer the entire North.

The Sigel of House Stark knows many renditions though the direwolfs form always stays the same in any of them. In the one chosen for this book the direwolf head is looking to the right and is portrayed in shades of grey, black and white. It is sitting on a background that is split in two. The top half is in beige and the bottom half is in a mat green.

Family Words: _"Winter is Coming"_  
Many meanings can be taken from the words often spoken like a mantra. A more common interpretation is the linking of it with the wetter itself. As such it is often said as a reminder that one must always prepare for the uninventable, the winter that is sure to come. Because of this it is often credited as one of the few words that are not a thread or a boast of might.  
Yet it can also be taken in a more unusual way by saying it as a thread. After all the Starks were once the Kings of Winter and as such Winter is Coming can be said as a real thread because the king will come with his armies to fight. This interpretation became more uncommon because the title of Kings of Winter had to be given up after the conquest.

Hold/Keep:  
Winterfell is the ancestral castle and seat of power used by House Stark and is considered to be the capital of the North. It is located in the centre of the northernmost province of the Seven Kingdoms. The Kingsroad passes by to the east of the castle but has a road coming of it that would take one to Winterfell should one desire so. The Kingsroad from Winterfell will either go north to the Wall or go south to Kings Landing and continue on to Storms End. It lies by the eastern edge of the Wolfswood and a river creatively named the Wolf Blade goes up right to the castle and would lead one to the White Knife if sailed long enough. The forest provides the wood for heating and the river the fresh source of water for the castle and its inhabitants. It lies to the south of the northern mountains and southwest of the Long Lake. The rough distance to Deepwood Motte would be around 500 kilometres if there existed a straight road between them.

Winterfell is a huge castle complex spanning several acres and protected by two massive walls. Both walls have a moat before them even if there is no water flowing through it. There exist four gates into these walls. They are known as the only direct entrances to the complex and are always well guarded or even simply closed off to anyone.

Outside of the walls some way down the hill there lies Winter Town. This town is often only truly inhabited when winter is coming and the smallfolk need a truly warm place to hole up in for winter. Often large groups of people will travel to Winterfell for this chance to survive winter. Under Winterfell are warm springs that even in summer produce warm mist from the wells. The Starks in a move of unprecedented engineering ability and ingenuity have managed to get the water pumped throughout the castle walls and as such secured a pleasantly warm keep even in the coldest of winters.

This has often helped the family because they lost less members of their house than any other with the pleasant temperature of their castle. This was even used to produce one of the biggest wonders of the north. The glass gardens call Winterfell their home and are one of the few if not only existing glass houses in the world. Warm Water is pumped into the glass garden that in turn can even in winter produce fruits that would normally not survive in the cold north. This constant source of food even in winter has often led to other houses receiving some food from house Stark in winter to help them survive. These houses often grateful for such action in turn would often stay more loyal to the house in turn for their generosity.

The castle grounds include a three-acre forest with the local heath tree that the lords can use to practise their religious practices. The forest has some wild life in it and even a pond right by the hearth tree. This place can often be used as a recreational space by the lords and a little place to gather some peace and quit before once again doing their duties.

Inside the walls, the complex is composed of dozens of courtyards and small open spaces. Weapons training and practice take place in those yards. The inner ward is a second, much older open space in the castle where archery practice takes place. It is located next to the broken tower. Inside Winterfell stands the inner castle, which contains the Great Keep and the Great Hall.

The outer wall is eighty feet high, while the inner is one hundred feet high, with a wide moat between them. There are guard turrets on the outer wall and more than thirty watch turrets on the crenelated inner walls. The great main gates have a gatehouse made of two huge crenelated bulwarks which flank the arched gate and a drawbridge that opens into the market square of the winter town.

There is a narrow tunnel inside of the inner wall stretching halfway around the castle, allowing travel from the south gate all the way to the north gate without interruption. This tunnel often reminds the world of the age of the castle and the secrets it holds and even the denizens of the castle could have forgotten over the ages.

Geography:  
While Winterfell lies in the centre of the north along the Kingsroad its lands are more spread out. Beginning in the west at Sea Dragon Point, and the three islands of its coast, ending in the east at the White Knife. The lands under them spread nearly through half the north. The spread of north to south is significantly smaller as the southernmost tip is several kilometres up the White Knife from its biggest tributary. To the north their lands' end at the end of the Long Lake and snakes through the woods lying west of it to the hills going south from the northern mountains.

The lands from Winterfell to the lands of the Cerwyn's and the First Knife up to the forest that lies by the Long Lake is considered the most fertile land under direct Stark control and produces most of the food consumed by Winterfell and Winter Town. The lands yield good harvests of beans, wheat, barley and several types of corn. It is also one of the few lands capable of growing fruits and produces a great deal of northern plumps and peaches. A great deal of trading takes place in this area as it lies on the First Knife and on parts on the White Knife. Both are shippable rivers that play a major role in northern trade. Add to that the Kingsroad as one of the rare good northern roads and many traders pass through these lands to the north of Winterfell including the Winter Hills and the lands to the edge of the Long Lake Forest are still considered arable but have lower yields than those of the south and instead of fruits grow a large fields of vegetables. Instead of farming many families in these parts have a greater deal of animals such as pigs that they graze on the more bountiful growing grasses of the area and use the manure to help offset some of the disadvantages of settling here. The Winter Hills are known to produce a good yield of iron as well as a rather meagre amount of salt that is used to preserve the pig meat that in addition to beans is used to survive the long winters. The iron of these mines is used to forge some of the swords, armour and horseshoes that the Stark troops need but most of it is used as iron for a rather mundane purpose such as nail and tools for working the land.

The largest part of the east is part of the Wolfswood. These lands don't provide any large or good farmlands or even grazing lands to the Starks but are one of their more valuable territories. At least if the ruling Stark is a clever and capable one. These forests are full of wildlife from wild fowls, foxes, beavers, bears, wolfs, bears, moose's, rabbits to boars and squirrels. Thought it is considered slightly dangerous, mostly because of the wolfs and bears, hunting in these woods is highly profitable as the hides and leathers sell for good coin and the red meat is favoured by many from smallfolk to lords and even if none want to buy it makes for a good food source. If you add to that the wild berries and mushrooms as well as eatable roots and bark of trees the forest provides and many rather small villages can form in these woods and life rather well. It is also important for the Starks as these forests not only provide wood that can be sold to the south but also because the wood cut here is used to heat homes in the cold climate. As the southern lands hold only smaller forest much of the cut wood is sold to them and keeps them close to the Starks influence.

As you follow the Wolfswood up to Seadragon Point the forests grows less dense and the ground rockier. Because of this these lands are not as well protected from the cold winds coming south from the lands of always winter and these lands lose much of the rather small harvest that one grows in these lands. Because of this the people living here are mostly known for raising sheep and goats. The wool from the sheep is used to produce thick clothing to protect from the winds and the goats give milk to the people that make a large amount of butter and cheese from these and exchange them for crops or pay with them as tax. The meats of these animals are one of the main dietaries produces for the people living here. The waters around Sea Dragon Point are rich in lobsters, eels, clams and several types of fish but the number of fishing villages is rather small because of repeated Ironborn raids. These lands are favoured by Ironborn raiders because the hidden coves give easy access to the land and hide the ships while the largest part of the men-at-arms is located closer to Winterfell and can't protect the smallfolk.

The lands south of Seadragon Point are one of the thinnest settled in the north because these lands are not only plagued by Ironborn but also because much of it is considered a wet region that is often partially under water after the winter snow melts. As such only few people make a living here by cutting up some peat and producing pottery from it. As these lands don't provide much in the way of arable fields the smallfolk here is often forced to migrate to Winter Town to survive the Winter and is all in all rather poor compared to even less wealthy regions such as bear isle. The only lands even less well of are the three isles under Stark control of the coast. The southernmost isle isn't even settled and sometimes the Ironborn use it as a base of operation to raid along the coast. The other two islands receive as much cold wind as the lands of Seadragon Point but have no trees to protect them. Because of this these islanders are considered as not even worthy to raid by the Ironborn. A small boon to the islanders to be sure and the only reason why any manage to live here.

Lesser Lords:  
No noble can truly administrate his holdings on his own. Because of this the lords of Winterfell have minor nobles that have smaller holdings with keeps inside of their lands. These are different from bannerman in the sense that they have no real power over their domains. While a lord Bolton might decide to not honour a call to arms the same can't be done by lesser lords. These men have often a small castle and are tasked with collecting tax, keep the king's peace and if the lord calls for it raise man for the armies. These positions are often held by knights in the southern lands but the north gives these positions to their most trusted or man who have distinguished themselves in the times of war. They are lesser masters and as such are referred to as master. The Starks have, because of the size of their territory, several such lesser or minor lords. Some of the more well-known and their locations will be listed below.

The most well-known lesser lord bears the family name Cassel and has been a trustworthy vassal for centuries. Many Starks have trusted Cassels with their lives. The Cassels have traditionally held the position of master-at-arms in Winterfell itself, while younger members work their way up by being the captains of the guard. Because of the need to have them close by the keep of Kassel is only half a day's ride north of Winterfell. The Cassels have specialised in the production of a local type of processed pig meat often enjoyed with bread when breaking the fast.

Another House that is similar to this are the Poole's. They unlike the other houses are more specialised in being stewards and administrators. They claim descendance from a former merchant that once helped the Starks and was rewarded lands for this. As such knowing their numbers and keeping a clean register are skills learned by most if not all in the family. They own a small keep along the river that goes up to Winterfell with a rather large village for the north through which much of Winterfell's river trade comes. As such even for such a small family they have a rather sizable income and as administrators to the Starks hold their good will and ear as much as the local Maester has. Their political influence is rather sizable because of this.

House Ironsmith is as the name nearly says a house uplifted from former smiths. An ancestor of them was one of the if not the first northern ironsmith when the Andals came with the technology. For this they were granted this boon. The house controls lands in the Winter Hills and produces a big number of ironworkers in their lands. Members of the family are known to still be teached the old craft by their fathers as they believe it helps build character and strengthens the body as well as mind. Often, they will be at the front with their man-at-arms in any battle.

House Condon is a prominent family of lesser lords located in the Wolfswood and is neither known for their martial strength nor their quick brains but rather because a member of the family once sat on the small council as the lord commander of the king's guard. Living in past glories has been all they did for a long time afterwards and even still some do today. Thought some of the house have tried to lake up the sword to be like their ancestor.

The last prominent house worth mentioning is House Peston that lives at the Sea Dragon Point. Unlike other lesser lords these have only a minute amount of contact with their overlords and acts rather independent compared to others. They are also one of the few northern houses that places a great deal of worth on sailing and it is known that they more so than others trade with House Mormont and attack Ironborn raiders coming north.

People:  
The lands of the lord of Winterfell total to about 715.000 smallfolk. The exact number is not known to them since many villages are left abandoned after winter and a continuous tracking of citizens is impossible in these lands. The rough estimate should be smaller than the real number because the Starks as they are made rather conservative estimates about their populace. The citizens are roughly divided between five territories.

The fertile lands in Winterfell's south are the most densely populated under the Starks. There live around 250.000 people from the smallest of the four territories. This is because the most farmlands are located in these parts. The people here are often said to be not only the wealthiest of the north but also have the easiest lives of any. After all, even the least well of have no problem with food or firewood and the trade as well as closeness to the Starks has a whole range of advantages.

To the north in the hills and grasslands the population reaches 180.000 but compared to the southern territory it is nearly double the size. Most smallfolk here live from pigs and the less fertile land and if it were not for the lucrative work in the Winter Hills and the trade passing there because of the Winter Bridge and the town across the river. Much the same can be said about the people living here as the ones in the one before.

The Wolfswood is the largest territory and the thinnest settled at the same time. While the lands are lucrative and population could be higher it is difficult to amass any significant number of man close together if your livelihood depends on hunting and gathering. So, while many would love to life here the number that can be supported by the land is too small to support to many more, or at least that is what the Starks believe and because of this limit more settling on the land. There are around 200.000 smallfolk living there.

The territory with the second least man living in it is the territory of Sea Dragon Point. Only about 70.000 people live on lands that could easily support trice times the number if a big fleet would protect fishing vessels and the right animals were kept. The people in the end have no protection from these raiders but developed a deep hate for them as a result. The people here are prouder than most other in the north for they survive in harsh lands and make it work for them.

The least settled lands are the wetlands with just 15.000 people living in lands larger than the first mentioned territory. They also are the poorest of all the Starks smallfolk.

Armies:  
The Starks would be able to call for 7000 men-at-arms were it not for the spread-out nature of their lands and the need to call for man fast and march in the time frame of a few days. Usually they will only be able to call up 4000 man and take them south in the time frame given to them. These men are often conscribing from the southern farmlands and equipped by steel from the north that add a small amount of man as well.

While the north usually has an army composition of one horseman to four man-at-arms the Starks have one horseman to three men-at-arms. The soldiers themselves often wear mail or leather armour and either use a shield sword combination or a one-handed axe with a shield. Some man is known to instead carry a one-handed Warhammer to better deal with heavy armoured knights. Stark man usually wears mail armour under a thick leather armour. They have for the most part a round shield with swords or an axe in the other. The horseman wears the same armour as the infantry with a polearm to use in a charge as the only real change up for them. Bowman from the Stark territories are known to be rather useless unless used in greater number together with cavalry.

Economy:  
The economy of house Stark is one of the best in the entire North. Their centre position in the lands mean that lots of trade in the North naturally goes their way. As the centre of the political power the lordship itself has the best conditions for development. The lord's paramount is often more able to sway the king in their favour and gain support for developing their lands. In addition, there are the taxes from the other territories that naturally flow into the land and add to the wealth of the lord that can then spend it to build more or better infrastructure.

The position from the geographical point of view is important as well. Having build their centre of power in the heart of the North means that there are no raiders that would be able to easily get to their most valuable lands. The White Knife and its shippable tributaries are a blessing to the house as well as most of the northern trade does follow this river and as such does fill their coffers. Then there is the best road that the north has in form of the Kingsroad. This road is the most travelled of the north and its parts under Stark control are often used with great care. As such their geography protects them but also allows for superb access to trade. In addition to this their control over a large part of Westeros largest forest gives them more lumber than they could ever need. This means that the house has a great deal of the most sought after good from the North as well as the means for easy transport and thanks to the rivers even the possibility to make more easily transportable planks from them.

Aside from all these advantages one cannot simply ignore the most glaring advantage the house has over others in the economic sense. They have one of the few territories that produces more food than the people need and can sell any overproduction to their neighbours that otherwise would buy their foodstuff from the southern kingdoms. This means less spending on a basic need and more money that can be spend on other goods that in turn better spread their wealth around.

The house has as such one of the highest trade benefits of the north as they export more that they import and because of this are better able to keep and amass wealth in form of coin, metals and goods such as spices. The house while even extremely wealthy by southern standard has been mostly administrated by cautious spenders and has as such one of the fullest treasuries of any kingdom.


	3. House Cerwyn of Cerwyn

House Cerwyn is one of the priceable bannerman of house Stark and among the most loyal banners they have among their nobility. Long ago they have ruled as First Men kings but the close proximity to the Stark's quickly saw an end to that. Their house is said to be among the first if not the first that was conquered by the Stark's and remained as a major noble house to this day. While others would only find shame in such a claim the Cerwyn's wear it with a pride that shows their loyalty. While their closeness to the Stark's has led them to be among the first to be conquered today it makes them into one of the closest and highly regarded houses to the Stark's. This is no wonder because their keep is the closest to Winterfell out of any of their major nobility. They can reach each other in a day's ride and as such it is no wonder that while the Cerwyn's don't foster their children with the Stark's their children often form a bond of friendship between the many visits they make to Winterfell. Loyalty born from such friendships that persist between generations and is nothing to scoff at.

The house proudly follows the faith of the old gods and while not having a god's wood inside their castle grounds a short walk from the keep a proper gods wood can be found where one can pay respect to the gods. This house actually belongs to one of the few that fanatically believe in the old gods and will actively deny septon's and septa's entree into their lands. That is unless they are sworn to a northern house and have a specific sept were, they will be needed to preach and don't roam the lands in attempts to convert their smallfolk. The house does however tend to hold at least a cordial relationship to the Manderly's because of their firm loyalty to the Stark's. Meanwhile their relationship to the Whitehills and the knights in their lands remains tedious. It is however of note that the heads of the house have often announced that no marriages to those believing in the seven are to be held because it would thin out their blood connection to the first men.

Many members of house Cerwyn are known to practice fighting with a one-handed axe instead of the more typical swords in their youth and even well into their adult years. It is sadly unknown how this came to be, but I would wager that a shortage of iron over a prolonged time has lead to the houses preference of the less iron intensive one-handed axe as a primary weapon of choice.

The coat of arms displays a double-sided black battle axe on a white background.

Family Words: "Honed and Ready"  
The word represents the two things that the Cerwyn's exceed in, having honed axes and being ready. For one they can manage to call all their banners in record time and by the moment that the Starks march south the Cerwyn's will have managed to call for their entire host. While normally these men would not seem like much compared to other major lords the fact that they manage to raise them all makes their force a major one in the army. As such they are not only ready to always help his liege lords the family is the one that is always ready for war.

Hold/Keep:  
Castle Cerwyn is the hold of the family with the same name. It is among the Norths weakest castles and consist of a Don Jon with a bailey on a heightened ground. It is made completely out of wood and has over the centuries it has been sacked a few times. A rebuilding out of stone has never been considered as house Cerwyn has a rather poor sense for business and taxation. Prime example for this is the fact that even though they own some of the norths most fertile land and have access to both the Kingsroad, White Knife and its tributary they remain poor throughout the centuries. Another reason why they have decided against the costly undertaking is that they have often been ignored in wars in favour of directly attacking Winterfell. A more defensible castle holding a larger garrison would lead to more attacks on their castle to safe the enemy's army's rear. The castle lies on the most western tip of the Cerwyn territory and by the bridge over the Tributary that the Kingsroad takes. As such the village by the castle houses many more ins and brothels than other castles have access to normally.

The bailey holds no gods wood but one can be reached by a short walk on food. The gods wood of house Cerwyn is open to the public and any person that wishes to can easily visit it in person as the Cerwyn's never hire any number of guards to protect it. For why should they fear someone doing anything to their gods wood?

Geography:  
The lands of house Cerwyn only have one facet. This is mostly because their lands are among the smallest of the major northern lords directly under House Stark. Another reason is because it lies between the White Knife and its major western Tributary. Because of this position the house is not that warried in its biomes.

Because of the two rivers it has an easy access to both river trade and freshwater fish. The lands on the tributary river have fast rising slopes that shield most of the populace of rapid rising rivers from melting snow by the end of Winter. Yet it still allows for an easy freshwater source for both animals and villages. The smaller shore by the White Knife meanwhile is more prone to over spilling but also allows for easier irrigation for fields. As such droughts are rather uncommon in these villages.

Much like the southern Stark territory these lands are very fertile and produce a great deal of food for other Northern holds. Even still the lands are rather poor because of bad administration. The higher than average taxes are the biggest reason why these lands are not as tickly settled as their Stark neighbours and neither as wealthy.

Lesser Lords:  
House Snowknife is the most recent addition to lordly status in the Cerwyn lands. It was created by the marriage of a Cerwyn and Hornwood baseborn couple that was granted lands by the White Knife just after the New Gift was awarded to the Night's Watch. It has a keep similar to Castle Cerwyn. It is a rather wealthy house compared to others in the Cerwyn lands because it managed to catch a good deal of trade that flows along the river.

A former fishermen family has taken the name Trout centuries before and build a keep close by the Cerwyn seat of power. It has a sizable number of small fishing boats that catch a good deal of trout along the tributary river. Many a lord Cerwyn relaxes by spending an afternoon visiting this house and drink while fishing with its lords. It is no wonder that this house is among the most trusted among Cerwyn vassals because of this close connection.

House Ant holds the single salt mine these lands have opened and its coffers have swelled because of this. Much salt is needed after all to salt fish when you want to keep it for the winter. Yet it alone doesn't manage to meet the need of salt the people have. Then again, their trade good has caused the house to become more prominent among the Cerwyn vassals. After all the smallfolk is poor and buying salt from another lordship has its prize as well.

People:  
The land only have about 40.000 smallfolk. The reason for this is not the lack of land to plough or a high death rate. The blame solely lies with the high taxes that these lands have compared to their neighbouring holds and the immigration that therefore exist. Many third sons leave this land because of this instead of setting up their own farms. In truth the land could comfortably support double the number of people and maybe even more to be honest. Much of the local smallfolk is extremely proud and will even start brawls to defend their lords despite all this.

Army:  
As mentioned when talking about the house words this territory is rather fast in gathering their troupes for war. They can mobilise around 1500 men-at-arms rather fast and because of this are rather strongly represented in any army having to be ensembled fast. A downside to their army is that because of the rather poor economy they have only around 150 mounted troupes and require other lords to supply these more costly men.

As they are rather close to house Stark their army is similarly organised to theirs and much of their armour, weapons and food supply mirrors theirs. In fact, the armour and weapons are often directly purchased from them as their lands have to few iron mines and smiths to supply the iron and workers needed to produce these themselves.

Economy:  
The people are poor, their lords are poor and traders mostly stop by to rest and eat not for trade or haggling. At least they are not going hungry because of the fertile land under their control. The land has no special produce that aren't avalable in other parts of the north but rather lack most of the normal money makers such as leather, wood and hides in numbers that would allow for good trade. The most notable thing commin from their lands are the fishes that are sold rather regionally and the exess food production.


	4. House Slate of Blackpool

House Slate is like house Cerwyn in many ways. Their keep is also rellatively close to Winterfell and as such they can travel and visit their liege lords easier than most other northern lords. Much like the Cerwyns this house once ruled as first man kings but lost against House Stark. The diference is that unlike them they didn't lose as much land. They managed to keep their ancestral keep on the tip of a river but lost most of their lands in the Wolfswood when they were subjugated. Furtunately a good part of the Wolf's Wood stretches south of this border river.

Like nearly all northern houses they follow the faith of the old gods and have a weirwood tree located in the center of their keep. Thought most lords have stopped holding executions by a weirwood tree as sacrafices for it House Slate has been continuing this tradition. It is said that members of this house can receive green dreams and are often fanatics in their believe in the old gods. As such, even if they are rare in other territories, their lands hold not a single sept but instead a good number of godswoods. Members of this house often marry members of house Reed because of their supposed relation to the children of the forest.

House Slate is one of the few houses that can claim to have a valyrian steel weapon. Even if it only is a hunting knife it is often proudly presented to other lords as even if it is not good for combat it shows a certain amount of wealt and furtune. Many members of the house have hoped to gain some other tidbits of valyrian steel to have the knife reforged into a sword.

The house has been administrated by some of the best lords that the north had to offer in the last centuries. The leaders of the house have often made decisions that in the long term have heavily benefitted their lands. Territories under their control have flourished in more than one way and the house has implemented a form of training to see to it that any member of the house is capable of governing. This includes the female portion of the house that is seen as great advisers to the current lords and sometimes have better access to local rumers. This wise leadership has lead the house to become more of a prominent power among northern houses even thought they hold a rather small lordship. Some even wisper that the Starks may grant them more land from their neighbours if the house continous to raise in power.

Among the many projects that the house has started in these years are the forming of a new town that one day may become as large as White Harbour, a network of roads that quickly seam to become as important as the Kingsroad and have the same quality as well. Then there is the quickly growing library in their new town that allows for those of the north to gain knowledge. The house hates the maesters and as such only hires those that were sponsored by themselves. This project is their hope to become more independent from the maesters. Not to mention the political power they would gain if they could produce a from of northern maester that could be trained in their lands. All these plans for the future are to be looked upon for the house is quickly rising.

The Sigil of their house is a pale grey with a double tressure on it.

Family Words: _"Let's start the Hunt"  
_As they have once held a great deal of lands in the Wolfswood and their keep is still in the forest the family is often known to produce good hunters. The words were apperently created when they were at war with the Blackwoods and they just routed the enemy troupes. The head of the house said these words and ordered the enemy trouped to be hunted down. Since then these were the house words that are as frightening as any other houses. To stay true to their words many members of the house learn how to track in forests at a young age.

Hold/Keep:  
Castle Blackpool is one of the more impresive northern castles. Not only is it build completely from stone its position in the middle of the water source that turns into a river makes for both a hindrance for enemys but also supplies save clean water in case of a siege. In fact because of its position it is only attackable from the entrance or if the enemy is dedicated from some sort of newly build bridge for a siege or by trying to fill the river with dirt. Both are rather diffecult when you get harrased by archers and a flowing water washing away a god deal of material used for filling normal moats. In fact the castle is known to be cabable of withstanding enemy sieges with only 20 to 40 men for prolonged periods of time. With the ever present tread of winter sieges on this castle have often been lifted by the weather and not a reinforcing army. The hardest part of living in this castle is said to be when it storms and the water can't properly flow of into the river. Such cases are rare but are known to exist.

Historycally the castle has been build with stone mined in the northern mountains and shipped along the White Knife to be used on the construction side. While there are viable local sources of stone that could have been used in the building a marriage to a clan in the northern mountains meant easy and cheap access to better quality stone cut by men with a great deal of expertise in it. Because of this there is still an inscribtion in the castles stone about the hope that both families will forever be allies to one another. The clan in questions has been wiped out in a particularry harsh winter but the inscribtion stayed as a memmory to their old allies.

Geography:  
The lands under the family have tree different farcets. For one there is the part of the Wolfswood that is stretching into their lands. It is mostly a pine forest and gives a great deal of protection from snow to its inhabitants. Because of this the villages in the forest can even in winter travel between each other and exchange materials that they are in desperate need of. This part of the forrest holds a great deal of small game that can be caught with traps. Some of the bigger game such as deers can also be found thought bears are rather rare and so are hogs as well. Between the riverbanks and the forest are not only good farming lands but also hold fish and eels. A great deal of wood cutting takes place there as well. As such these parts of the forest are bursting with live. A common dish in these parts is fish backed in a slew of local herbs with a side of bread and a paste of wild berries. This region is pretty wealthy and some smalfolk even buy spices from White Harbor for a little luxery in their lives.

The second facet can be found between the western tributary of the White Knife and the King' Road. These lands are much like the Cerwyn and Stark lands and are rather fertile. Because the regions close by already produce more than needed these lands have taken to not sell overproduction of wheat but instead refine it into beer. The beer from this region is then sold all allong the White Knife and its tributaries. While not the biggest or the best producer of alcoholic bewerages in the north the local production is still a major industrie of the area.

The last area are the flatlands not along the river on the other side of the King's Road. While certainly fertile these lands also hold a great deal of animals that can be left outside to graze. It is not uncommon for the people in these parts to have several cows, sheep, goats and chickens. What makes these lands and the territory really special and wealthy is the well maintained paved road between the river that empties in the great lake inside the Tallhart lands and the Kingsroad. A great deal of goods that instead would need to be taken around Westeros by ship can be transported over this road and arrive faster in White Harbor than on ship. Along this road, that is as rare as a sept in the north, much gold changes hands. While the village by the river has not yet become a town like Barrowton it is well underway to grow as big as it in the next few years. Some even jokingly said it should be named Black Harbor if it keeps growing like this.

Lesser Lords:  
House Azul has a castle at the most southern point of Slate lands. The keep they have there is an essential defence that protects large tracks of land behind it. Often it is said to be one of the two most important castle in house Slate lands. After all any army coming from the south needs to take this castle first to secure supply lines. The house as such has a rather marshally touched nature and produces some of the territories more capable commanders.

House Crown has the other important castle. It is build along the Kingsroad and is to the eastern parts what house Azul's castle is to the south. In addition the road going through the territory to the river merges with the King's Road by this castle. House Crown was named as such because they were evelated by house Slate when they retrieved the Slates crown from an enemy king that stole it.

Another important house is a branch of the Slate family named Woodslate. The branch of the family functions as the stewards of the quickly growing city. While not formelary named as the owners of these lands they have been its stewards for close to a hundred years. It is not heditary but still there was not one steward not of this family.

People:  
The population under house Slate is actually nearly equally divided among their lands. As such there are no parts that remain unsettled or have a overpopulation compared to other parts. While the diet warries depending where you live the rather good road network that is in place allows for a great deal of goods passing into all parts of their lands. As such fish from the larger rivers is easy to get even in more inland regions and wood from the northern forest is processed even in the rather plain like south. The population is certainly wealthy comparetd to their counterparts in other northern or even southern areas. Low taxes even make people move from other lords lands into theirs. When living in the north the lands around Blackpool are certainly one of the best places to live. Getting lands in that part of the territorie is rather contested. With around 190.000 people their lands are rather thickly settled and are even still growing in number.

Army:  
House Slate can raise about more men than house Cerwyn with around 2500 troupes. Unlike the lands under Cerwyn they have less of a martial culture in these parts and as such less men jump at the chance to fight. Still these numbers are rather impressive if you consider that they pick up the slack of house Cerwyn and actually have about 1000 Horsemen among these soldiers. The horsemen are even rather good armored and in peace times patrol the land and are because of this even rather well trained and experienced in charging agains living targets.

Another preciality of them is their mace infantry. These men are often mixed among the other northern soldiers to deal with heavy armoured oponents that meet the line in combat. Sometimes these men will be used as a shock infantry that circles around their own line to charge in the sides of their enemies.

Economy:  
The economy on these lands is based mostly on the production of food, wood, processed varients of these two, to a lesser part hides and in front of all others the use as a major trade center that can easily link trade coming from the west to the east in White Harbor. As such people here are rather good haglers, have a good number of ins and brothels as well as many market places where goods passing through are bought and traders take with them local produce. This makes the region into one of the few places where a large amount of coin can be found instead of goods that are then exchanged. Being among the wealthiest in the north makes many of the other lords into possible allies because they seek to gain this coin and the trade with their help.


	5. House Dustin of Barrowton

House Dustin is one of the major houses of the north that are sworn to house Stark. They once ruled as first men kings over the Barrowlands to the south of the Starks. In these times they called themselv Barrowkings. They still rule from Barrow Hall a castle build in the town of Barrowton, one of the few towns in the north and a source of pride for any lord Dustin, both are build mostly from wood and stand along a nameless river that empties into the Salt Spear.

Their lands follow the large river north of Barrowton that emties into the Salt Spear to the south. The southern border is the Salt Spear itself and to the east their lands wind along the barrowlands until they meet the Castle of House Azul. Their lands are predominantly part of the barrowlands but their also hold some of the mountains belonging to the rills in their northern teritorie.

The Dustins have rather close ties with the Boltens because of several marriages between them and the Ryswells who have in turn strong conections to the Dustins. Because of this relationship the Starks view towards them is rather problematic and the Starks often hold close ties with the Slates to shield themselves from an attack by a combined Ryswell Dustin army from the south. As such members of this house often need to work rather hard to prove themselves towards the Starks. This is made easier by the fact that they have way closer ties with House Cerwyn than any other House. Politically speaking the Dustins belong to the power block of the Houses Rywell and Glenmore though the Boltons have often tried to sway them from that conection they never quite managed to do so. As a family related to house Bolton they benefit from their protection and support.

The sigel of house Dustin shows a rusted crown on top of two crossed axes in a black bronze color sheme. All this is placed on a yellow background.

Family Words: _"Our Word yet Lives"  
_The Dustins are a family painfully aware of death and its meaning. Not only is their keep build on the supposed burrow of the king of giants and their lands in the burrowlands, named after all the burrows that house graves, their family is so connected to death that even the supposed nights queen some think of as a Dustin. All this connection to death has made the families words into a reminder that while death may be the end the family will continue to live and continue to spread their word, power and memory of even the oldest of its members. The words are always a reminder that their family will continue and will right past slighs even if the person scorned is long dead.

Hold/Keep:  
The keep that houses the Dustins is centered on the largest burrow in the burrowlands right by the nameless river flowing into the Saltspear in the south. Their keep is surrounded by one of the better known and largest northern settlements known as Barrowton. The town is mostly surrounded by a wooden wall and most of the buildings in the town are build from wood as well. Even the main castle is made completely from wood. There was never any need to make the castle from stone because the keep unlike most other northern keeps already is well protected with the walled town surrounding it. And even if these were broken through the enemy could not simply torch down the castle as they would then rule over a town made of ashes.

The walkways of the outer townwalls are roffed and allow for the snow to fall down on either side. Thanks to this even in winter the townwatch can easily patrol the walls and in case of sieges the town can better be defended because the walls are more difficult to breach. By itself the defensive features of the town and the castle are neither here not there but the combination makes for a rather difficult combination because most northern armies are less well known for their abily to siege walled towns as they have nearly no expertise in this. The town also hold a group of knights that pray to the old gods instead of the new under who they were knighted.

The Barrow Hall made comletly from wood is as any other castle in the north. It is neither known for its impressive architecture or its defensiveness but rather for its long history and adabtility. Over the centuries the lords of the house have often played around with the design of the castle. As it is made of wood and as such has to be rebuild after some time the family has often added some roomes and walls, removed some parts of the structure or added another tower in the wall for added defence. As such the castle while never really a impressive castle has often been going with the age and added the newest trends and improvemends. It is often said to be the most modern castle in the north because of this. Not that that means anything should it be under siege.

Geography:  
Lets start with the most common scene you will find in these lands and the biggest territorie under house Dustins control. The barrowlands stretch from both sided of the river in the middle of their lands to their borders. While the lands emediatly surrounding the river are another territorie as are the mountains to their north these lands are the biggest part of the scenery. A endless up and down of the burrows through most of the land. These lands are not to fertile and hold only few farmers. Mostly no one will farm these lands because it is bad luck to plow the earth on top of a burrow, not to mention the difficulty of cultivating lands as uneven as these. As such the farmlands are sparsely located in the parts were the space between burrows is larger and bigger fields can be planted. While these lands make for bad farming many farmers have animals grace on the burrows. These lands are actually prime land to hold any number of animals that eat grass. Not only can one easily view over a spread out heard from the burrows but the grass is lush, green and grows in abundance. Many people specialise in herding a great number of cattle, sheep, goats, horses and pigs in these parts. Animal produce dictate the lives of the people in these lands and they eat more meat than most other northerners because of this.

The second farced of their lands are the riverbanks. The river bordering the Tallhart's and Ryswell lands is considered of limits to the Dustin's as they are firmly under the control of the other two houses. As such there are scarcely any villages on their side of the river. The river in the middle of their territory meanwhile is unship able thanks to some passages with rapid water flow and waterfalls. Not only is the river no good for transportation but it also holds only few fish for the people trying to make a meal out of them. In fact, even the lands around the river are often uninhabited because the river sometimes overflows and destroys the field of those dumb enough to try farming there. The only good thing the river seams to give to the people living there are its freshwater and the inaccessibility to Ironborn raiders.

Then there is the coastlands on the salt spear in the south. The shore itself is often mared by stoney beaches and small stonern protrutions ranging from 4 to 6 meters skywards. These parts are highly productive and thickly settled for northern standarts. Not only can you start fishing in the salt spear, wood is readily awailable on the coast. These parts hold some of the few really forested areas under Dustin influence that could be considered as decend forest for southerners while small for northern standarts. The supply of wood for boats and wool for fishing nets from inland makes for a good foodsource. In addition there are no burrows untill some kilometres inland which means more ground that can be used for farming to further make this part of the land usefull. But all these things pale in the true purpose of this land. The Salt Spear has a reason for its name and the people in these parts produce loads of salt from the water right infront of their houses. The salt is then sold inland and can even be found in Winterfell for it is claimed to have a special taste compared to rock salt. The wealth of this region makes it a target for the ironborn but the lords of house Dustin have long since build castles on the coast in important places to stop any such incursions on their land. It is save to live here as the castles protect even the smallfolk with their presence. In addition many villages have build ramparts on the edge of their villages to further hinder any ironborn. Since all of this has been inplemented the raids on Dustin lands have dwindled for others places have riches to plunder as well.

The last different territorie are the mountains in their northern lands. These mountains hold some fertile valleys that while to small for large villages support the local food production for the miners in these lands. Most mines here produce what can be locally of use. Between iron, brass, copper and tin there is everything that the Dustins need to supply their own need for these but also sate some of the other northern lords appetite for steel. Often iron mined in these mountains is transported to the newly forming town under Slate control and then transported towards White Harbor.

Lesser Lords:  
One house sworn to the Dustin's is House Slate of Goldgrass. Their keep is located in the eatern parts of Barrowton and they ofthen hold the honor of beeing the captains of the city watch. While they hold lands outside of the city their smallfolk is ill attended and their lands less than well supperwised. Some would say that the closeness to their overlords has weakened the houses base of power while others think that it strenghened their influence on the local policies. House Stout is really of no importance in the grand sceme of things and their only claim for reknown is their keeps closeness to Barrow Hall itself.

House Fyre is a house based in the mountains and often leads the other noble houses that settle in these mountains to act as a collective groupe. As such they often organise which towns from the other riverside get to trade with their mined metals. This relationship with the other side of the river has lead to the marriage of some third sons and daughters from rather major houses like the Ryswells, Tallhats and Slates to them and further strengened their political power. While not to wealthy their position as leader of this powerblock in the Dustin lands make them to one of the more formidable houses even able to match some of the poorer and less political savvy major lords under Stark control in influence.

The Zimmerfelds are one of the many houses that are located in the barrowland part of the lands and hold claim to own a giants skull. While none of the visitors ever have sean anything remotely similar to a skull like that in their possetion the rumors hold themselves fresh as many seam to rather like this rumor. Because of this rumor some travel to their keep to try their luck at convincing the lord to show them the skull that may or may not exist.

The most prosperous of the petty nobles is house Saltwasch by the Saltspear. Their buisness of salt production as well as the yields of fish, farming produce and animal produce make them wealthier than all other lords under house Dustin. Only the Dustins are weathier than them in these parts. The house is renown for their special method of salt extraction that allows for the production of some of the best salt in the north. The taste of their salt is so well liked that many northern lords always have a small cache of it for special ocasions and send men to buy it when their suppley nears its end.

People:  
In the center surrounding the river live the least amount of people. Only 10.000 would call this area its home where it not for Barrowton that is build by the river. With the addition of these people there are about 25.000 people in this part of the land. While the freshwater is one of the reasons for people to settle here there are few others that would help. Most people live here because of Barrowton and Barrowton is situated along the river because it is centered pretty much in the middle of the territorie. Thanks to Barrowton there live a great deal of traders in this part that refine goods into something of higher worth and with less demand. In many ways it is the heard of the region while having no worth otherwise. Those that live not in Barrowton but still settle here are often poor and live harder lives than any other people under the Dustins. As such many of their Levies come from these people that hope for some wealth.

The mountains are home to another 30.000 people that live largely from their mining in the area. While there are those that plow the valleys so that the miners have food in their bellies for working there are many more that mine in these parts. Because of the mines there actually live more blacksmiths in this area than in most others. Many would say that these mountaisn are the forge of house Dustin and those that would not say so would be wrong. These mountains hold hardy men that drink more than most in the north for their hard work makes it a compulsion to raise a cup for the good work.

The largest of the areas is the Barrowland whitch hold just about 150.000 people over the wast expanse of land under them. Most of these men eat more meat and cheese than other northerners as it is easy to hold a great deal of animals and watch over them. Thanks to their focus of animal husbandry they all have specially bread dogs that help with watching and herding the flocks of sheep and such. While wolfes are a ever present problem to the people and their animals there have long since been developed ways to lessen the burden of such a unlucky event. For example sometimes the sick and oldest animals will be left on the edges of the heard so that the loss is not as severe or the dogs are trained to fight of the wolfes. The people in these lands are professionals in working with meats and can smoke salt and dry any meat in a variety of ways to bring out different flavours.

The last area is the coast with anouther 60.000 people. While the number itself is not to impressive considering it is linked to a small area that those call home it is rather large. Often another village can be reached by a days walk and you will still arive back home by the same day. The people here a rather wealthy and have all anyone could wish for. Good farmlands with fishing ground in front of their noses, protection from raiders and bandits, wealth thanks to the salt they can easily produce on the side and even grazing animals by their fields is considerd an easy addition for some produce on the side. With the woods as a added boon there are few that would go cold or hungry in this part of their lands.

Army:  
The armies quallity that house Dustin can field heavily depends on their perception on the need of the troupes. The house can either field those riverdwellers that are desperate for coin, but those are rather untrained and more interested in looting for some sort of wealth for themselves and not to well equiped, or they can take their levies from the Salt Spear lands. Using these men will lead to lowered defences in these parts and open the rist of being raided should the ironborn learn of the weakened defences but also mean that the family can use trained, well armoured and drilled men in the war. Then there is the cityguard of Barrowton itself. Usually these men would not be taken to the field but should there be a desperate need of trained men they can be called upon for wars. The armies quallity as such depends on the will of the lord to bring the good the bad or a mix of both with him to war. As such their armies can also be anything from 2000 well equiped and trained soldiers to 5000 ill equiped men that are more connonfother than anything else. Usually they will bring a mix of 3000 to 4000 men that are made up of both and some others that awarege around a normal level of quallity in the end.

Economy:  
There are three centers of commerce for this territory. One is the coastal area that sells it produce of salt all throuout the land of the house and to most of the lords in the north. As such these lands bring in a great deal of worth for these lands and pull in money from all around the own territory. The second center would be Barrowton for it is the center for crafting better goods from the normal goods brought here. Lethers and wool will be turned to clothes, feathers into beds and arrows, stell into anything else and there are even some minstels in these lands. Most of their wealth is brought in by their own lands surrounding the city and the produces then again sold to those surrounding the town. The last center of wealth are the mountains in the north that sell their minerals to the people of other lordships and as such bring in mostly money from outside their territorie.

Their economy rest on these three pilars of commerce that spread goods around and produce wealth for the people living here. And while nearly no produce will travel south out of the north when it was produced here it is a economy centerd around mostly local trade with the addition of some wealth brought in through sold minerals and their sea salt


	6. House Tallhart of Torrhen's Square

The Tallhart's descent from the First Men but have never been first men kings and as such are held in lower esteam then some other northern houses. In fact the house is only considerd a masterly house whitch is viewed as lower than a lordly one. All noble houses under them can also only be mastlerly and are viewed as lower than their lordly lesser noble equivelent. The family claims decent from the first men but were never kings indead they were raised into nobilty by the Starks for their rebellion against the Ironborn. They were apperently taken as slaves by the ironborn and ferried to the then still ironborn Bear Isle where they lead a rebellion that ended when the Stark king beat the ironborn lord in a fight and tock the isle for the Mormonts. House Tallhart was raised to masterly status for their rebellion but as they hadn't proved themselves to be truly loyal to the Starks they have received an lordship closer to Winterfell than Bear Isle. Since then they have served loyally and with vigor even if they have proven themselv to be rather poor administartors over the centuries. For their loyalty they were raised to be a princable bannermen of the Starks and throughout the ages remained as such.

Living as slaves has lead the family to truly despise the ironborn in more ways than you can imagine. Many members of the house learn sailing just so they can one day attack the ironborn on see if the need for that should ever be. The house kept their collars and some of the wips from their days in slavery and proudly desplay them in their castle to show their defiance to their slavers and their archivement that raised them in status. All weapons they take from skirmashes with ironborn are shown alonside the chains until they start rusting and are exchanged agains newer ones to show their ever present hate for them. All of this leads to the house owning a small fleet of 8 ships with sailors trained for naval warfare under their control. They are one of the few houses in the north that has members capable of commanding ships in battle.

Their arms show three sentinal trees in all green on a brown background.

Familie Words: _"Proud and Free"  
_The word obviously reflect the time the family was forced to spend in slavery under the ironborn. After all you should be proud of yourself after you started and lead a succesfull uprising agains your oppressors that end with your rise into nobility and freedom as well as the loss of the territory of your former slavers under which you had to work. In the end the word perfectly reflect the state of mind one would have after such an ordeal and making them your houses words leads to your descendants continued hate for your eternal enemies and their obvious follow up in policies.

But not only do the words reflect the past of their family. A member of this family is always expected to bahave in a manner befitting of him so that he may be able to hold his head high with pride for his actions. He is also expected to behave in such a manner that he shall be free or free others that suffered the same as them in the past. They will always free slaves when the posibility shows itself to them. Often such freed slaves will settle in their lands afterwards.

Hold/Keep:  
Torrhen's Square is the families keep and was named after the lord Stark that financed their families castle. It was build by one of the norths largest lakes whose river empties into the Salt Spear. The castle was build in this place to further protect the inland area of the Wolfswood from ironborn raiders coming inland thanks to the river. As such the Starks emptied their pockets and financed the building of a rather large stone castle by the lake on a tong of land that stretches a bit into the lake. Legends say that when the lord of house Tallhart asked for help to finance their keep he said that he would finance anything they hadn't yet managed to build. When the Starks arrived there just lay a square of stones where the keep shall be build. The lord was rather amused by this and financed the full keep and to honour him it was named after him and the square that he found when he arrived.

As Torrhen's Square was build from sollid stone unlike other castles of the north it is considered one of the better castles in case you need to defend it. After all a stone fired from a catapult does less damage towards stone then wood. As it was build from stone there has been near no need to repair or further strengthen the main keep. Instead the lords have decided to rather build a wall in the small village constucted by the castle that supports the castle itself.

The small village was strengthened by building a wall with towers and gates surrounding it. A few of the field were decided to stay inside the castle walls so that those may be protected from anything wishing to weaken the defence. In the center of the village there lies a square for trading in the village. You can also see all of the three officially recocnised roads that go through Tallhart land. Only those three roads have any sort of continues repairs that keep fallen trees of it and fill in holes. Even then these three roads are still not that great to use as they still turn into a muddy mess after some strong rain. By the lake they also build an additional three docks. To the left of the keep there lies the largest of the three with a direct way into the trading square and the most places to dock ships. To the right of the castle there lies a smaler dock that is used only when the larger of the two is currently already filled with ships. It is a rather rare occurance but can happen on expecially buissy days where food from the south comes together with ships holding steel from Dustin lands and other shippments just so happen to arrive as well. The last of the three docks is a privat one to the Tallhart's and holds ships that have guest to the family, goods expecially ordered by the lord or the few warships that the family calls their own. A path from there leads directly to one of the two gates through whitch one can enter the main castle grounds and then the castle itself. Outside of this walled section there still are further fields and houses with some more docks for fishermen. Thought most fishermen do not have the luxury of a dock but rather pull up the ship to shore and then further in land. The castle usually takes it water from the pond in front the main gate but has a well in case of siege as well.

Geography:  
The lands of the house are pretty much incased by the large lake on whitch their keep lies the rivers that flow into it to the south. To the east their boundary follows the twinn lakes and its rivers to the spring of the rivers that least to the most northern point. From there it follows the edge of the Wolfswood thought at the start it hold a thinn track of land inside the forest itself aswell. To their west they are bordered by the Slate's and their land. From there go south till they meet the slowly forming town under their neighbours controll. Coincedentally one of the three "good" roads lead to this town while the other two go to Deepwood Motte and the bridge that connects over the river that binds together the twin lakes in the east. Through this there developed four different territories under their influence.

For one there is the river and lake regions. These encompass everyone that lives on the many rivers and lakes under their controll. Especially the lake on whitch their keep was build and its rivers makes for a prime area to settle because the control over those is exclusevly under their house and as such all the fish, eels and crabs theirs to use. Unfurtunately only parts of the lands by the rivers and lakes to the east belong in this categorie. By not beeing the only one with control over them the people living on these bodies of water are less wealthy and well off but their livestile is still the same as their more fortunate brothers. These lands have one thing in common. The rivers and lakes are all completely shippable and have large fishing grounds that can easily support a population even several times larger than the one currently there. The fish here are fat and found in large number and even some sweetwater crabs can be found in more shallow areas of the riverbeds. The men and women here place a great deal of worth in fishing and make it their main source of food even. The families here have nearly no animals instead because of this. The land surrounding the river while fertile is often ignored in favour of fishing but those that do produce focus on cash crobs like vegtables because those can be traded along the river to the Slates for normal foods.

The second area is located by the mountains under their controll. These mountains hold a great deal of iron and other minerals such as rock salt that are mostly ignored by the people. This area is severely underpopulated and under developed instead their need for minerals and salt is meet by the production of house Dustin. These mountain dwellers are as such often not miners or smiths but rather men and women that chose to rather live in the securety of the mountains where no ironborn raid for it is known for its poverty. The only saving grace for this area is that there is one mountain pass through where the road to the east goes and as such the people along it can sell what they, if they are clever enough to do so, mine in the montains. Just between us here … these mountains hold some thick veins of gold that have not yet been found and probably never will be thanks to the houses disinterest in developing the area.

The smalest area is the small strip of the Wolfswood that reaches into their land. Unlike the other people living from the forest under other lords the men here do not hunt wild game or gather wild fruit to support their diet. Instead they collect the sap of the sentinal trees that then gets shipped along the rivers to distrebute among the harbours to help make the ships more resistant to water. Thanks to the rather bad road situation these people often live in poverty when their shippments take longer thanks to damages in the trample paths. Thought thanks to the abundance of wood that shelteres them from snow and can be burned for warmth there are no people here that freeze to death. Hunger meanwhile can easily kill the people here in a stronger winter.

The last area are the plains that do not lie by a river and as such force the people to actually farm the land more then their riverdwelling neighbours. To be truthfull most people rather live by the river to fish and the few villages that can be found in this inlad area are located along the three roads because of the traders that then pass them. The land is fertile enough to live of their produce such as beans and preserved fruit as well as corn. These let most people here through winter but they make for a rather sad picture with their small and often rather run down looking villages. Their saving grace is that the riverdwellers often buy some crobs from them before the Slates if only a small amount compared to what they then again do buy from elsewhere.

Lesser Lords:  
The lands under Tallhart control are unlike any other until now. In other lordships you could find families of renown in any of the different territories that would be worth mentioning. This does not applly here because all families living by the rivers are wastly wore wealthy then their counterparts in the land. In fact the noble families lording over land in the mountains, the plains or by the forest are sometimes worse of then the traders passing on the river to other northern lordships. Most families living in the plains are often condidered more farmers than lords in their own right. The same could be said over those living in the mountains and only the ones by the forest can be considered to be somewhat of repute when their lords or masters know how to gowern at least a bit.

Hous Hadel is as most houses worth mentioning living by the bifurcation of the river going south whre the border follows west. From this position the house managed to be rather close to the lords across the river in the mountains. They are a favourit trading partner and one of several providers of river produce to the ones in the mountain. The house has a number of small carrying vessels that ship the goods to the Slates or further down the river. They have even managed to affort some bigger ships with more storeroom in the recent history of their house with the Slates building a town where more produce is needed.

The Tief's are known for their position on a small isle in the lake from where they originated. Under the castle made of mostly driftwood there lies a wast netword of naturaly formed caverns that stretch under the lake for several kilometers. Because of the danger of unknowingly opening up the caves to the lake by mining the house has never even thought about doing so instead they found the caves to be exxelent for storing anything far away from water and animals like rats. The caves have a natural beauty to them and some visit just to see these. Many traders actually pay the family a small fee for storing some goods like wood for them there and come back after some time when their ships once again have room to load some more.

By the Twinn Lakes lies the keep of House Darf. To be more specific they made their keep by the pass where the mountain and the lake meet. This keep was once build after a invading army could simply walk into their lands trough this pass. Today a castles bares the entrance to the lands and as such the easiest route supplies could be ferried along. While the castle has not been tested in a long time the lords certainly have not lost their martial attitute. Often members of this house lead the troupes when the Tallharts can't send someone to lead them or advises the ones commanding of the best course to take. No general or commander of renoune has ever been produced by them but they often make for a solid if basic commander.

People:  
Nobody that has read this far should wonder about the severe underpopulation in these lands. Alltogether the people here only number 63.000. Most of these men call the rivers and lakes their home.

From the total population around 54.000 live by the rivers and lakes of the lordship. This makes up for the wast amount of the people and as such it is no wonder that other northeneres usually think of the men living in this part of the country as fishfaces or the fishmen. The stereotipe developed because the diet of the people here is overhelmingly in favour of maritime food and in actuallity mostly fish. In other parts of the north the old men say that they are going hunting when they decide to go out and die in winter in these parts the men say they go icefishing. A local custum even developed aound eating raw fish that other people gag at and believe to be disgusting. The people here are often rather poor themselves but can trade for some goods they need along the river. Most of their trade revolves around exchanging fish against other goods like salt and wood as well as the linen needed for nets.

The mountains have a combined number of 2000 smallfolk. Meeting someone in the mountains is considered difficult if you don't know where the villages and small family farms are located. After all in an area that in the south would house a number more than 20 times that present live so few people. The biggest community in the mountains stands at 127 people strong and also has one of the only two mines that one can find in the mountains. The one present here is a salt mine that does sell some of its salt to the rest of the people in the mountains.

Small as the strip of forest is it does hold about 1000 people and as such is more populated than the mountains. After all the number of people may be smaler but the area they live in is several times smaler. While the people here often fear hunger in winter and sometimes even in summer they are one of the few people that need not worry about freezing in winter. Seeing as the main livelyhood of the people is always dependent weather their people manage to deliver their goods in time and come back with foodstuf and the roads are bad the people often suffer and can take large hits in their population.

Lastely are the farmers in the plains numbering 6000. The people here are often miserable because of their rather low yields in addition to the inability to trade what suplusses they do yield for other things such as salt and processed wool. The people here often do freeze in winter and go hungry as well. After particularry harsh winters it is not unusual for some smaler villages to entirely vanish from the face of earth. Well at least the people do while the houses turn into a frozen ghosttown. Many of the smallfolk wear handed down rags of their siblings and often hope for a better live by immegrating into other areas. The ones that stay often only do because they feel that the low taxes the lord grants for people to stay there outweights the benefits elsewhere. Often they beliefe that tales of better farmlands are lies by other lords to gain smallfolk (thanks to their lords).

Army:  
The army the family can muster is often considered one of the worst in the lands in the department of equipment, supply and quickness to deploy in full number. While the first two are because of the poverty in the territory and the subsequent inability to give out the required arms the last one is because of the horrid condition of the roads. Even if most of their people live by the river and lake the total number of troupes can not be ferried along the river much less the supply needed.

In the end the lands can contibute about 600 to 700 people in a normal case and in full strenght. If the time is limited the house would only be able to raise the pitifull number of 400 in time. While these numbers seem quite the embarasment the house has found a way to save some face. Between having some of the few warships of the north and a constand dedicated levy of 100 men-at-arms that can be taken along the river quickly the house can deploy these men faster than any other house towards Winterfell. In addition if the fighting is done against the ironborn there are many people in these lands that would fight even underequipt and without pay. In such cases the troupe count from their lands would number in between 2000 and 3000 and many more would be willing to fight if it is needed.

Economy:  
These lands live from the rivers and lakes and the scrabs of trade they can get thanks to this. The occasional fish being sold while buying a great deal of other goods means that these lands are bleeding resources and money into other lands while not managing to build up any wealth for themselves. In addition the land is severely underdeveloped thanks to in large part the absence of money that could be used for any large scale developments to better the situation. The newly forming town from the Slates has lead to more traders coming up and down the river and meant that in the last several years more money and goods have found themselv in these lands and the poverty by the water seems to be less severe.


	7. House Flint of Flint's Finger

_**Yeah ... this one became a bit crazy ...  
**_

House Flint of Flint's Finger belongs to one of the prominent branch families of house Flint that spread all over the north. Unlike the two other reknown families theirs is neither the oldest nor the strongest. Because of their position to the west of the Neck they are the second and less prominent house that protects the North from armies coming from the south. They rule over some of the harshest land the north has to offer. While it isn't nearly as cold as the land close to the wall it has other qualities that make it difficult for people to settle in these lands. Thought this is a matter for a later part.

Like all northern houses even these Flint's support the Nights Watch. Unlike others when they look back upon their history with the Watch they look back on a tradgedy. Not only has a commander of the Watch that belonged to their house tried to become a King Beyond the Wall and left a veil of discrace upon their name for a long while when young Danny tried to show the world their honor and joined the wall she was raped and later killed. Through all this the house has not wavered in their believe in the wall but rather tried their best to support it even more to make up for the past.

These Flint's are known to marry with the Reeds for their prozimity but also have a strong connection towards house Dustin. Situated right across the Salt Spear and the quite strong Dustins have always been a natural ally to the Flints. Their presense of a strong coastal defense has already put of the Ironborn and lead them to search for a easier target. The Flint's always try to push them to build up a navy to better protect their coast and as such the entirety of the Salt Spear. This endevour of the house has been less then succesfull for a while now. Another natural family to marry into are the other Flint's simply to let the families stay close to one another.

They blazon their banner with a grey stone hand upon a white inverted pall on paly black and grey.

Family Words: _"Fierce and Hardy"  
_The people of this land life in harsher conditions than even the rest of the north. In addition their closeness to the Iron Islands lead to a even more difficult living enviroment. The fact that one of the best places to life in their lands is named Cape Kraken shows how fierce the fighting between the people got in these parts. The house that managed to settle these lands and defend them naturally took their fierceness as part of their words. In addition only those that can call themselves hardy will survive. Their words as such spreack of their strenght and their determination in defending their family, land and lives.

Hold/Keep:  
The keep of Flint's Finger has had many names over the centuries. The castle itself has always been the seat of power for whoever ruled over these lands. As such the ruling house has always given the keep their name and its reputation. When the Flints took over the castle they decided to expand the castle by adding a larger central tower and breaking down some other strucktures. This caused most of the people to call the keep and later the region Flints Finger. While at first not the intention it certainly was a welcome surprise for the house and the prestige they gained through this.

The castle itself is ontop of a cliff situated at its highest point. This gives the castle the edge in spotting seafarring attackers and in turn allows for the easy notification of the smallfolk that danger is coming. This has often safed the settlers around the keep of deadly surprises. As such the watchduty is only given to the most dedicated and allert men. They are the first to be blamed when a ship slipped past their watch and the most praised when their sightings save lifes.

Their position on top of the cliffs lead to the need of a steady supplyline for goods such as water from the bottom of the cliff. In times of siege the castle is cut of from this lifeline and can not hold out for to long. Their walls are not to high and while attacks can only come from one side the house has trouble if they can not break the siege. This has often been used against the castle by building a temporary fortification that the castle inhabitants would have to pass to flee. Such a tactique was actually used by the Flints to conquer the keep. With the low walls storming the castle is also always a posibility that has to be taken into account.

Geography:  
The lands as often hinted at are harsher than all others in the north and can be divided into four parts. The most prominent to ships sailing along the coast are the high cliffs that are all along the southern coast and take up large parts of the remaining coast. Then there is the small strip of forest they hold. While most of the forest east of their keep is the border to the Reed's they hold several square kilometres of land in the northern part of the forest until it ends and turns back to the swamplands under house Reed. The largest of their lands is the stone desert that makes up most of their inland territory and makes this land as unpassable for armies as the swamp to the east. The last territory is the smallest but at the same the heartland of the land and is along the short parts on the shore where people are able to work the fields and survive.

Unlike the Stony Shore the cliffs along the southern shore hold no shorts beaches and paths to the tops of the cliffs. They make it impossible to reach the seawater from the top and impossible to reach the top from the bottom. The ships that aren't careful can easily crash against these cliffs when an unfortunate wind blows. The cliffs encase most of the lands even along large parts of the northern shore that lay by the Salt Spear. The parts that are free of cliffs are sure to be part of the settled heartland or to small for such a task.

The settled heartlands of the territory can be found on Cape Kraken and by the bay in which Flints Finger was build. These two areas hold most of the settles coastland and are considered to even be densely populated. Often these bays have cliffs reaching up high on both sides of a bay with a stretch of beach at the front before opening up to the back for a small stretch of land that is filled with life. These lands soon turn into the stony dessert that makes up their inland territory. People from Dorne usually call these parts the coastal oasis of the north.

The only other land that is seriously settled is the woodlands to the east. The forest it belongs to makes up most of the border with the Reeds. The northern part has been given up to the Flints as a sign of goodwill and to show that the Reeds are willing to help them hold onto their lands. This forest is prone to be flooded because of its proximity to the swamp. The people that settle the forest consider themselves to be Crannogmen. Unlike the stony dessert this forest has an abundance of water and life. Most of the wood the territory uses comes from this forest.

Lastly is the by now way to often named stony dessert. When the Children of the Forest cast their magic on the neck to sink it like the Arm of Dorne and failed they caused two things. For one the marshlands in the centre of the land connection was formed. These always wet swamps are the more prominent of the two. While this part has been lowered, they in turn raised the entirety of the rest. The cliffs one can now see were once the coastline. This devasting use of magic caused a new climate to form. Where the swap received rain without end the rest of the neck became a dryland and the rare rain eroded the entirety of the fertile earth the plains once held. The only sources of fertile earth that remained were by the coast were water from the ocean streams underground and is freed from salt and brought up by wells. Over the centuries the people that lived here saw how the entirety of the inland became a cold stony desert that could not support any form of life. Too cold for reptiles and rodent and to lifeless for any other animal these lands hold even less life than the dornish dessert.

Lesser Lords:  
Basically every possible location for settlements has been opened up and been given a lord to govern. These lords can have settlement with as few as 100 smallfolk and often life barely better than their subjects. The stronger of the lords usually govern over the larger oases. Many lords all along the area known as Cape Kraken actually still claim descendance from the Ironborn. While the lords have since become typically northern lords and prey to the Ironborn they themselves keep their roots as seafaring people close to their heart.

The main rivals to the Flints are the Stonetides that govern over the largest of the coastal regions on Cape Kraken. They are a branch to the Blacktides that are vassals to the Greyjoy's of the iron islands. The Blacktides are mostly ashamed that one of their descendance became green. Because of this they are also a favourite target to raiders. This is the main reason why the house has not been a major danger to the Flints while still being their long-time rivals. They need the support of their liege lords while they aim to become the rulers themselves. The house has once tried to over through their brethren on their island but couldn't hold the isle long enough to solidify their control.

Their closest and most trusted vassals are the Rills. They once held land in the Rills but fell in disgrace. They soon landed in the lands of the Flints because they searched for a new lord for the lands across the large bay were their lands are located. The bay the Rills received was rich in ores. The extraction of tin, lead and copper has led the house to become more dependant on food from other lords but also made them invaluable for the trade and money their metals bring. They are among the most loyal of the vassals even among the bay in which all are considered loyal.

In the woodlands under the Flints rule the Pans. They were once a minor house under the Reeds but when the land was given to another the family changed lords with them. While the house still holds more ties to the rest of the neck, they have slowly become more used to their new liege lords. Their wood has become an important source of income to the region. The fact that their woods are filled with water lead to them stocking an inland road with water deposits. This led to this road becoming the main road for trade all along the southern shore of the Salt Spear. The coffers of both Flints and Pans has profited from it and brought the new lands closer to their new lords.

A more typical house under them would be the Woodlys. They rule over an average sized lordship with about 250 smallfolk. These lords are typically working the fields together with their people or are seen among the fishermen. These lords often are barely literate and mostly own their position to the fact that they once were rulers over larger swaths of land before it turned into stone.

People:  
The people in these lands are a funny mix that are part of Ironborn, Crannogmen and Northerners. The Ironborn have once owned these lands and their presence can still be seen in the fact that most of the people here know how to sail and swim. At the same time the people here are Crannogmen simply for the fact that they life in the neck. While they aren't quite like their swamp dwelling brothers the fact that population travels between the regions leads to them been quite close to them. At the same time do the people here consider themselves northerners as well. They are as used to the cold as any others and are accustomed to a harsh life that all northerners claim to lead. This mix of population groups is one of a kind in front of all when you consider that even Andals have married with the people along these shores. While the land may be desolate the people are certainly the most diverse in their descend.

It should be quite clear that no one lives in the inland territory but along the southern shore there can be found some lone survivors. These people are often those that were banished for their crimes or fled their punishment. They are few and often barely manage to survive by catching the birds that life on the cliffs to hunt fish. They live of the blood and meat these creatures give and are quite reclusive to everyone. They are probably the people that lead their lives in the harshest lands you can find in Westeros, or are they?

The Crannogmen living in the forest lead a life similar to their brothers living in the southern part of the forest. Their way of life is quite similar and as such will be talked about in detail in the chapter about the Reeds. Differences can be seen in small parts of their life. For example, do the people maintain the water road along the shore and do cut down more trees for wood than their brethren. The populace in the woods contain about 6000 people. Many people left their land with the change of liege lord. Still the region is probably the one with the most life in it.

The rest of the populace lives in their little coves. They number a surprisingly 28.000 people and often life more densely then other northern houses. Their way of life is a special one and surprising for many. Because they have a shortage of farmland for crops and animals, they value every bit they own. Their houses are often built close to the shore on sandy underground to safe more land for production. Their woods often build their border to the stony desert and curb the worst of the cold winds that is prevalent on it. The weir wood often stands on the very edge as thought their magic hinders the desert from claiming the last pieces of habitable land. These people are among the rare that still offer human sacrifices to the trees. The fact that the forest they gained from the Reeds helped them preserve more of their forest is one the smallfolk will not forget any time soon. Because the lands by the cliffs was raised by magic the water directly of the shore is actually not all that deep and there are next to no violent currents close to the shore in these areas. It is quite simple to swim out for a bit or take a small fishing boat to catch for fish. Fishing and sailing is something that comes natural to these people and they are among the few that also developed a taste for algae. Something that only some lords have found out is that the fact that the lands were raised means that the cliffs to their sided would normally be deep underground. This leads to ores being on pretty much level ground to the villages. Level ground for mines means less work needs to be put into excavating it. Those that realised this are wealthier thanks to the ore they mine on the side and sell to the south and Dustin's.

Army:  
While the Flints have some of the lowest population levels in the North, they still manage to field about 800 soldiers if given enough time. Should there be a need for a fast collection of soldiers they will often only recruit 500 men. Because of their low population and the constant raids however the people here are similar to the Mormont's. Among their soldiers you can often find as many women as men. While the nobles often do not mirror this believe the Flints have become the closest to switching to the Mormont way of viewing women.

The men-at-arms gathered from these lands hold nearly no cavalry. The environment simply does not offer them the possibility to raise or keep horses. Only the strongest/wealthiest nobles do own a horse but those are bought from Ryswell lands and only when the lords truly need them. In addition, these will in peace times be used to help fieldwork. The people meanwhile make for good soldiers. After all constant raids from Ironborn make for good training and looting the fallen afterwards for weapons and armour does cower a basic level of professionalism in armaments. The men from this land are also known for their see legs and can easily be drilled to make for good naval combatants. Sadly, the house owns no warships but their people can serve on ships belonging to the Tallhart's if the need exist.

Economy:  
The economy of the land is like a pearl necklace. The fact that all people life along the coast and know how to work on ships leads to a constant string of ports all along the shore. While most of these individually make for poor trade the fact that so many of them exist and can be landed on in a short time makes them worthwhile for merchants. The fact that this is the more heavily settled coast until you reach the Dustin land also makes the decision easier for merchants on where to take their trade.

These lands have one prominent production that can be traded for with merchants. Their waters are rich in sea life and the people know how to harvest it. While algae is more of a local production and food there are ports in the Westerlands that buy and eat them as well. In addition to the lobsters and clams their seafood makes them most of their money.


	8. House Ryswell of the Rill's

House Ryswell rules over the extensive lands of the Rills that lie between the Barrowlands and the Stoney Shore. The lands include the rather flat lands to the south and a large part of the mountainrange known as the Rills.

The house has never ruled as first man kings. Instead the house known as Ryder once ruled these lands and even submitted under the Kings of Winter. After a rebelion several milenia ago by the Ryder's the house was extingueshed and the lands granted to the Ryswell's. The Ryswell's are often thought of as a branch family to the Ryders that stayed loyal to the Starks and as such was granted the lands for this deed. Others think the house was founded by a second son Bolton married to the last Ryder woman being granted these lands and as such founding a new family to distance themselves or be distanced to their original family. No family in the north knows the truth on the matter and the family itself quoted different lord of their house saying different thinks depending in the needed puplicity. In any case the family became the uncontested ruler of these lands and rules with a firm hand.

The members of this house often marry with the Boltons and have sometimes supported them in rebelion against their overlords. No Stark that had not married a Ryswell himself or has a sister in the other family with children would take the houses loyalty for granted and suspect deciet and falsehood in their actions. Originally this is believed to come from the close ties they hold to the Boltons but even they are sometimes warry of the house and will question their plans. As such most view them with initial mistrust and even while shaking their hands with them will have a hand on their sword in case something happens.

Even with all of this mistrust placed in them the house has many strong supporters for the Wall and as such is one of the biggest supporters the Nights Watch has in the north. Much of the weath they could have is used to help the men at the Wall protect the north. There is even a legendary tale in the north where a Ryswells son fled from the wall for sanctuary at home only to be personally delivered to the wall by his father to end his watch by being placed inside the frozen wall forever. When it concerns the Wall the family is often instandly taken as trustworthy.

The sigel of the house is a black horse with a shining red mane in a orange background with round edges placed on a black background. Some members of the house take different coloured horses as sigel depending on the relationship to the current lord. Some of these are coloured as grey, brown and gold.

Familie Words: _"Swiftly Running"  
_The words reflect the two aspects of the families descend while also holding an omnious tone when said while going to war. The omnious part comes from the fact that the words promice that the family will come swiftly to fight and destroy the enemy but can also be taken as an admition of using hit and run tactics without shame.

One part of the families word reflect their descand of men living in the Rills. A rill is a swiftly running stream of water. The teritory itself was named after these natural rills that plaster the entirety of the lands in these parts. These rills allow much of their lands to be triwing with wild life and animals for water is in aboundance.

The second part lies in their probable descand of Ryders. The Ryders themselves were known for being exelent horsemen and fielding some of the if not he best northern horses that can often be found running around in their lands wildly. The horses of the house certainly run swiftly and are one of the things anyone would associate with them.

Hold/Keep:  
The keep of the family lies where locals would say the plains gate is located. From the start of this keep the mountains of the northern parts of their lands end. Two rivers frame the area where the mountains end and lead the river that rushes down the mountains to the oceans. By these rivers the plains start to open up and right in the middle with equell distance to both rivers by the last of the mountains the keep was build on the side of a mountain. There are none alive that can say why the keep was build on the side and not on the top of the mountain. After all not only is the castle way easier to siege from this laps in judgement but it also opens up the posibility for enemies to build siege equipment on the top of the mountain and shot inside the castle with an ease that is frightening. The castle was build more for looks than defensive abilities some mutter when asked others speculate that there was once a gold mine under the castle and as such needed the defences while most simply agree that the lord that commisioned the castle was simply a simpleton with wast amounts of wealth and none to stear him in a more practical direction.

The castle while not really defensive has another thing that many do wonder about. None know who build the castle. The Ryswell's say that they have simply taken up the castles from the Ryders who lived there before them. Many believe that this is only explained as such because the castle itself is a attrocity against functional castles. Others believe that the builders were the Ryswell's themselves long before their rise in position while some say that the Ryswell's were forced to build it this way by their overlords after they themselfes once rised in rebelion against them. Whatever may have been the case no one will take reposibility for it as it would tarnish the family name with shame.

The castle walls on the mountainside are only 5 meters tall in some places while the ones on the oposite side are more than five times the hight, there are no merticulations by the walls to shoot down on attackers standing close to the wall and a moat even dry never seamed to exist for this castle. Not only this but the castle gates miss a port palice and the walls towers and the main tower and keep are part of the wall for some reason. Visetors often wonder if the castle even has a well or some form of water storrage or if the builders just immagined that the enemy would let them out to fetch some water by the river. To say that this castle would be easy to take is an understatement. Some even wonder if the family truly lives there or just uses it as a front while having a smaler castle to really live in a few miles away.

As the castle is in such horrid conditions the lords of the house tend to have a smaler garrison in a fortefied camp on top of the mountain to at least not be as woulnerable. Even thought the castle is a joke as big as it can get the family refuses to move from it as thought there was something there that warranted protection with their presence. Thought none know what it could be that would force them be there.

While the castle is not defensive and its rather rugged northern build made it at least not a looker for the eyes to anyone passing it certainly is one of the most compfertable castles to visit. Not only has the castle a build in heating system that keeps is at least bearable in winter by burning wood in the cellar, but it also has some of the best rooms a visitor of sufficient rank could immagine. The rooms are painted with breathtaking beautifull murrals and the chairs, tables and beeds have been carved into rather pretty musters. Eye Candy Castle is what most would describe the castle as and as such it is known in the north.

Geography:  
The lands of the Ryswell are divided in three distinct areas with onether fourth interwined in another area. This area is a blend of the two and as such can't be clearly defined by any one of the two for larger swaths of land. Adding to this the natural boundaries of the coast and the mostly river based borders and you find yourself in the lands belonging to this house.

Coastlands make up a large part of the border. In fact the Ryswell's have one of the biggest coastal areas in the North. This is one of the destinctive territories of their land. The coast lies on parts in the waters of the Salt Spear but has more lands on the sea known as the Blazewater Bay. The coastal areas are not to well defended and the ironborn use this as a chance to often raide lands in this area, The sparse population in these parts added by the poor defenses mean that these lands are a favourit target of these raiders. The constand danger by this coast means that unlike their eastern neighbours there is no extensive salt producing populace here. Raided villages are a more common sight to see here than the lords wish to admit. Even the fishing vessels are often sunk and can lead to shortages of food while new once are build. The coast itself holds some of the longest continous northern sand beaches. They hold more coarse sand compared to the dornish deserts with fine sand. The lands right by the coast are arable and often the only reason why the people survive by the coast.

The grasslands that could remind one of a more frozen brother of the dothraki sea hold many of the wild heards of horses the lands are known for. Not uncommon for the north is that the lands in this part are neighter fertile nor easily farmable. The ground here is often hard and has many stones in it that can hinder people plowing fiels. The lands are rather lushly decorated with grasslands. Some places have grasses as high as a man while others are more normal to the avarage person. In any case the lands do allow for great grazing grounds for animals and the wild horses make for fine steads once they are tamed. As such the major industry in this part of the land are the horses that can live of the grass. Loads of food is in turn bought in this part of the land because nothing much is grown locally. This is no problem however because even in the south the horses are highly acclaimed and the Reach happily buys the horses and exchanges them for food.

The third and fouth territory are interwined and make up the northern mountains under their controle. This area combines the rills for which the lordship is known for and the mountains holding preciuos metals. The rills often lead to destroyed farms because they carry away the good soil from farmlands. Yet the rills also benefit the land because of the water they carry. The farmes in these parts often have to relocate their fields because of the suddenly forming rills and often lose part of their harvest. This is made up however by the silver that is mined from the mountains. These mountains hold many mines where the metal is found. The imense wealth from this is the reason for a great deal of jelousy.

While mot a teritory by itselv it is woth mentioning that exept for the short land pass to the Tallhart's the lordship is entirely surrounded by water in the form of rivers, lakes and the sea.

Lesser Lords:  
To start the list one needs to mention the Destiers. They are one of the most prominent families in the lands because of their large horse breeding farms. They are often said to be a branch family to the Ryders that stayed loyal to them but didn't face extinction after the rebelion. The house breeds some of the largest horses in Westeros that while not the fastest are known for their hardiness and stamina. The houses loyalty has been often secured by marriages of second daughters to them. The house fields some of the norths best cavalry and many of them could match a well trained knight should they meet in a tourney.

The richest of the minor houses are the Adalharts. They own and opereate the largest of the silver mines of the rills. Their wealth can match many of the less wealthy lordships and they are thought to be a silver edition of the Lanisters with more northern routes. Needless to say the house is one of the proudest because of their wealth and one can often see the lords of the house bost with their silver. Because of the silver mines they hold and the production it has they sometimes have marriage ties with the Manderly's that have some of the few northern silversmiths in their city. The lords while proud are not idiots and take great care to secure their livelyhood and lands from bandists and ironborn. It is worth mentioning that the family is far from being the only lords in the rills that mine for silver. They are merrrily the most succesfull and biggest miners in these lands and surpass many of the other lordships in the amount mined several times. Even the mines under Ryswell control have not reached an output close to theirs. This doesn't matter however because the Ryswell's recieves part of the mined silver per law.

Last on our list of important lesser lords in these parts are the Odavacar. The family can trace their ancestry back to the first men and often boast that one of their ancesters married a daughter of the legendary Garth Greenhand. While many would normally laugh at this claim the Meaesters of the citadel could comfirm the claim through some ancient tomes. As such while they are only a minor family their claim of ancestrie has seen them receive political power. Some claim that had the house been still in the Reach they might even rival the famous families there like the Florent's and Redwyne's. Today there are still jokes that the Tyrell's have less noble blood in their veins than a family of northern savages. Needless to say the Tyrell's developed a kind of hate towards them for this.

People:  
The lands under Ryswell control count 320.000 people. These live well spread out among their lands and no one region can really claim to have much more people in it than the others. This means that there is no one area where there will be more benefits in living. It is worth mentioning that the foodproduction could not support this many people. Because of this there is a massiv amount of imports from the south in that sense.

The coast while the smales of the named areas still holds about 30.000 people. The coast is massiv and even with the constant tread of the ironborn hold not only fertile fishing grounds but also some of the best farmlands under Ryswell control. The people flock to this area for the independence they can gain from southern imports. Raiders may often cause the people to go hungry for a while but the lands quickly jump back into normal production levels. The diet in this area follows more the traditional northern ways because they have no exports of southern food that dedicated their diet. The more common northern crobs are consumed with the occasional lobsters and clams found with the fishes.

Grasslands make up the biggest of the ares and as such hold some more smalfolk than the other lands. This is merelly the case bacause as mentioned they hold most of the land and the people are equally spread out. This means that there live about 155.000 smallfolk in this part of the land. The diet in these part consist of the meats, cheese and ocassional local grown crob in addition to the southern imports. Bought food means that more southern crobs are brought north for consumption. These crobs often are bigger and have a slightely different taste. As such the cuisine in this part produces a mix between northern hearty food and more elegant southern preperations. As the people here specialise in horse breeding there was once the thought to copy some of the dothraki traditions. From this idea came the tradition to eat horsemeat and prepare it for winter by drying it. Even thought the people here buy much of their food their wealth is nothing to scoff at. After all a well bread horse has a rather high price attached to it.

Lastly there are the mountains and rills. Smaler than the grassland and yet by southern standarts still a massiv piece of land. The smallfolk here has the same density as the other areas but because of its size only has 135.000 peole living there. The men and women here are either living half a nomadic life or have found a save haven where the rills don't erode their lands and continues farming is possible. Either way the farmers here do not produce enough to sustain themselv or the miners that also require food. Because of this the area is hevealy dependent on food imports. Some of the grain brought to their lands comes from as far as the Disputed Lands. The lack of dense forest also means that a good deal of firewood needs to be bought. This need however can be easily dealt with through the Wolfswood and the rivers leading from there to their mountains. Let no one fool you however. The people working in the mine make up the wealthies of these lands and as such the craft of the miner is highly acclaimed in these lands. There were even songs written about the honor there is in mining the earth and freeing its tressures.

Army:  
The Ryswells can call on an army of around 3500 thousand men-at-arms. At least this number is often quotet to be their full force. Through all the text about the family it should be clear that the family is often not trusted by any and as such their force is often thought to be better and more numerous than the one they show. With how large the north is many claim the house keeps another force of at least a thousand as a standing army. This force is claimed to be hidden deep in the mountains. After all who would be able to tell how much food is truly bought only for the smallfolk and how much could be spirited away. The house denies these claims thought the silver and its wealth would make it a posibility for sure.

The regular army as some say is composed of some of the norths best horsemen and horses. The riders cetainly are a trained bunch riding through the rills and being used as a fast response unit against ironborn raids on the costal hamlets. The men are equiped with good armour and better weapons bought with the wealth of silver. The other soldiers while not bad aren't worth mentioning as their skill or equipment is in no way exeptional.

Economy:  
Imports severely outnumber the exports of the territory. This however is not bad because the worth of the exported goods more than make up for the lack of quantity. There is a great amount of silver and horses floiwing out of the lands. In exchange most of their other needs be they iron, salt, copper, crobs, hides, wool, wood or fish are bought from the other northern lordships and various southern lords. Their biggest trading partners are several reachlords proxy of the Glenmores, the free cities Lys, Myr and Tyrosh as well as the Blackwoods from the riverlands and the Glovers, Slates and Manderlys in the north. While more dependent on other lands than most other lordship they can make a claim to be one of the most connected as well. Something noteworthy is the amount of wealth and goods that flow from the lordship to the Wall. Not only do they buy goods for the Nights Watch but they also make them gifts of castle forged steel and many of the brother that are there and came of their free have come from these lands. For these men their families also send goods from home to make their lives easier on them.


	9. House Ironfur of Strong Stone

**This house was sponsored by the Union of Self Inserts and Original Characters (SI/OC).  
The Union of SI/OC has helped many stuggeling lordships all over Westeros with its revolutionary tax systems, expansion of road networks and otherworldly technology like the printing press and gun powder. **

**Jokes aside this is the first completly new house that was never mentioned and took an otherwise empty place of space. I wanted it to be a bit more like the usual OC in the way that the founder was this perfect unfailable being whose written down advise is still taken in consideration. All of that with the addition that growth and change of any kind seams slow in Westeros and without making them some overpowered entity that wrecks the rest of the north and simply does not do so because of the good in their hearts. Hope you like this new house with a hind of usual fiction characters even if it has not recieved an technological uplift as some do.**

House Ironfur and its banners are all relatively new noble houses of the north. After the rebelion of house Ryder the land had no real rulers for a long time. Most families that were granted the land died soon after receiving the land they settled on. Some died from starving in winter others had their line die for reasons such as infertility or siding with the Boltons. The land came to be called the cursed land for all that were granted land there died sooner rather than later. This was until House Ironfur was granted the lands. Having ruled for now close to 800 years their rule has lasted more than four times the length of any other family that called these lands their own since the rebellion. Some call them the cursebreakers for this feat. Without a doubt has the family proven thar there is no curse and that they are there to stay.

House Ironfur as mentioned is a newer house in the north. They were raised when the son of a cattle herder worked tirelessly by the side of the Stark's. His councel was valued by the Starks of the time in both war and peace for his unusual but effective ideas to deal with problems. When once again the lords of the mountainous cost died and the Starks were thinking of who to send as lord of the land as a punishment he interwiened and promised that not only his family would last but rather make the land prosper. Many looked at the claim with doubt and even the Starks wouldn't give man as loyal such land and offered them lands closer to Winterfell for his service. Yet the man was headstrong and was given the chance. Unlike most of the older houses theirs remembers their roots well and know that among the commoners there lay many an unpolished gem. As such there are often people of low birth but with amazing talend part of their revenue.

At the start none wanted to mary his daughters into a family only recently raised to nobility and granted such a cursed land but around 500 to 400 years this changed when it was proven that they would last. Since then they have mainly maried with the Mormonts, Umbers and Flints. Thought there has been at least one mariage with both the Starks, Blackwoods and surprisingly a past Sealord of Bravos.

Because of their past they are considered a hardy family that produces strong men and woman. Early on they were influenced by the Momonts and have taken to teaching their womanfolk and noble ladies in the arts of war as they do with their malefolk and lords. For this reason have both houses been often siding together in various matters of politics and are considerd as close friends and allies. A thing to note is that they are considered to be extremely fertile. A man of the house taking a whore that didn't drink moons tee will soon have a bastard and a woman of the house that takes a lover to bed better drings it the whole week before and after if she doesn't want to fall with chield. In recent times there is the saying that their fertility is only matched by Walder Frey. A union between the houses is feared to produce a plaque of an ever growing house filled with landles nobles.

The sigel features a large black bull that faces to the right from the viewers perspective. Most notable on him are his large black horns that may even seam rediculous. The background is predominantly yellow with a green plant with star shaped leaves behind the bull.

Family Words: _"Tenacious and Stubborn"  
_When the family's founder didn't want to back away from the challenge of taking the lands none wanted for his reward the head of house Stark shouted at him that he is as tenacious as he is stubborn. The man just thanked him for granting him his houses words. Over time it became simplified to the words of today. Some even say that when someone says these words to a Stark even today, they will have a twitching eye and uneasy smile while saying that their ancestors were many things but most certainly not wrong in saying these words.

Hold/Keep:  
The keep of Strong Stone is one of the most defensible castles in the north. It would best be secured by either building a giant dirt ramp up to the walls or starving the occupants out. The simple reason for this is the fact that it was build in the mountains along a river. There is only one path up the castle that can be taken by troupes to besiege the wall. Neighter siege towers nor catapults can be used. For the first the ground is to steep for the other the distance that it would need to be placed would be to far away to reach the walls. Tunneling is another idear one might get but the ground is hard enought that it would take several years to get under the walls without being found out. After you reach the gates even a sudden ambush would not really work out. The castle is layered and has several beilays. It is house policy that at least two of the beilay gates are closed at the same time for this reason.

Alas every castle has its weaknesses. Strong Stone is heavily dependant on the river flowing at its bottom. While the castle has a sytem to gather rain water this can not cover their need alone for a prolonged time. The ground is to hard to even dream of reaching ground water and building a well. Because of this the servents regulary have to fetch water from the river. Even so only a number of people would die from thirst before the rain water could cover once more for all presend. As such you can only really hurt them through their food. When sieging them be prepared for a long time of waiting.

The keep itself was planed by the houses first head. He never got to complete it however. Unlike other lords that came to the land he decided to build up a new castle instead of setteling a old one. The funds he received from house Stark for this endavour were however not enough to cover the expences of building both the castle, build up better coastal defences and investing in the economy. He however did leave behind detailed instrucions for finishing it. Over about 200 years the house has expanded the main keep trice, build the additional four beilays, finished the Readers Tower and added the ceilars in the hard rock to use for storage. In addition to this they have managed to equip it with all the intended furniture and prestigious object that were planned to be placed in it. Including a collection of stuffed animals, a rather impressive great hall with a giant weaved wall carpet detailing the houses founding and the silken bedcovers. The founder knew how to build effective defensive structures, show once pretige and when to stop for the sake of the tressury. Through his clever planing the castle stands as one of the norths most impressive structures.

An important note should be the Readers Tower. It is the only part of the structure that wasn't given its supposed name or purpose. When it was finaly build the current lord saw an opportunity before him. Several Reacher houses have had several bad harvest in a row and many lords across Westeros sufferd food shortages over it. Their land however had produced much more than normal and he gambled about a late and short winter and sold most of the lands food for books. In the end the gamble was a full success and many a folish lord lost books that they owned for several centuries prior. For this reason the house has the second biggest collection of books in the north and even books that are considered as a rarity across the world. Later additions of books gained with the fall of Valyria made it all the more impressive. In the order of masters many consider being send to house Ironfur a blessing for all the rare books the house has.

The keeps most recent addition has only been some 150 years ago. The family finaly decided that the founders plans were good but the addition of a paved path leading up to the castle in addition to a single guard tower at its bottom would go a long ways in the forms of comford and additional secruity. In addition the small village that was by the river at the bottom was expanded to better support the castle. As such there are now more people close by the castle.

Geography:  
The lands ot the house stretch from the Twin Lakes in the east along the mountain ranges in the north of the western coast. From the last of these it will somewhat follow a smaler stream that reaches the coast by the middle of a rather large natural cove. From there it will follow the coast for a rather short stretch of land to just include the muddy cove after here the lands are considerd part of the Stony Shore. From there it will go south until it once again reaches the mountains bottoms and follow along a border marked by a line of border boulders till it once again reaches the river that will go up to the Twin Lakes. The lands can be divided into three destinct parts. There are the coastal lowlands in the west of the mountain ranges, the mountains themselves including their valeys and the river hamlets.

The coastal lowlands are the least prosperous part of their lands. While these lands have somewhat recoverd by the control house Ironfur and the secruity they garanty it has still many more problems than the other lands under their control. The land is now often ignored by the Ironborn for the surrounding lords lands that are either less secure or richer in loot. The people live in much the same conditions as the people under house Stark to their north. The land is quite wet and ill suited for farming in addition to the cold winds that still make their way down to even here and only break once they reach the mountains. However unlike their northern bretheren the people here have taken these disadvanteges and used them. The wet lands hold a enourmous amount of clay and peat. These wet lands also hold a bird that migrates south in the winters but always comes back in summer to feast on the insects that have made their home in the wetlands. The coast in these parts is still considered part of the easy to access coast and not part of the more shipbreaking coast of the Stony Shore. But there still exist only some small fishing town along the coast and no expansions are planned in the near future.

The smallest of the regions are the river hamlets. While the coastal wetlands have been ignored for further expansion by the house they have recognised the worth these lowland regions by the larger rivers. If they are give the right conditions. In many ways are these lands the bread baskets of the region. When the lands were taken over the rivers and its hamlets were wild, untamed and in places abandoned. The woods reached to the rivers edges and floodings were not unusual. After the house had taken over much of their wealth, political power and population was used to change this. Rivers were in places straightened, deepended or even rerouted to a more favourable place. Thought these changes were often minor the numbers made quite the change. With the additions of watering ditches, dikes and a intricate network of watering channels much of these parts have turned into a heaven for farming. The lands around the river are fertile and the networks and planned out stretches of land for farming make it easy to plow and rich in reward. To aid this is the fact that the river can be easily secured from men sailing it down to far with only a few boats. All in all this region has seen a large amout of change in the last centuries and hold a promising future because newer lords of the house have started to make plans to once more expand the past works along the lands by the Twin Lakes.

The last and the largest of the regions is the mountains. While not as high as the Frost Fang to the far north it is often viewed as a smaler version of the northern mountains that are inhabited by clans. Many of these mountains hold large old trees, grasses growing to a mans belly and shrubs that with time would tear your clothes apart. It is often broken apart by villages that are placed in the valleys between the mountain slopes or along the rivers that nourish the larger rivers. Much like the rivers has this region started to see change under the house for a while now. While much of the land is still wild like all of the north in certain parts the small villages have started to grow with the incentives given by the Ironfurs. While the mountains are still mostly left alone and the wealth under them either ignored or not known to the people only small mines are dotting the lands. The incentives lay in the deforesting of the gentler slopes to use for grapes that manage to survive the harsh cold lands. These mountains hold trees that are said to be as old as the north itself and some would claim that once upon a time the heart of the Wolfswood has lain in these mountains and not to the far north it now calls its main centre. Some lords even support part of this claim as many trees of these parts can be found in the Wolfswood as well.

Lesser Lords:  
Since its formation the Ironfurs have raised many new families that showed promising talents in various field to be their vassels. While there are still those vassels that come from the past in the territory they have never been to numerous. In addition many of those families have decided to leave the lands because of the changes that were made under the new House. As such the number of newer families that have been more recently raised as well as those that were bastards or second third or sometimes forth sons that received a keep is higher than anywere else in the north. The houses that remained or were created in such a manner are fiercely loyal to the Ironfurs and not much can shake them of their support to the house.

The princeple house under the Ironfurs are the Wince. The house was raised shortly after the Ironfurs when they reached the territory. The first Wince was the right hand man to the first Ironfur and has served him well with advise and swordarm. As such he received the lands and duties that such trust varanted. They made their keep in the mountains close to the wetlands by a river that reaches the coast. Before the creation of the keep there the incurions from Ironborn have often taken this rout to pillage in the mountains. The Winces have since produced many caplebell men and women that served much like their ancestors. In addition the position they have does not only contain duity but also reward. After all much of the pottery from the coastlands reaches the mountains through this river pass and food comes from the other side. As such trade is a given for this lordship.

The largest center of grain production lies under the influence of house Digger. Having their seat of power by the bifurcation of the two riversources coming from the mountains flowing south their lands had once only floods. With the trenches this changed significantly. This region is now the biggest food producer among Ironfur vassels. Many a lord Digger has claimed that even in the longest of winters none of his people had to starve or shorten their rations to survive. While not the largest or most powerfull of minor houses many of the lords that have land by the rivers under house Ironfur follow the advise and political decisions the Diggers try to push.

By the gentlest of the mountain slopes house Whitefur has received its lands. Formed by the forth son of the Ironfurs just 300 years in the past it is young and yet the center of attention for some time now. Under the orders of house Ironfur has the house started and expanded the plantation of grapes on their hills. In the years past there have been many a fruitfull harvest. These grapes will be turned into wine. Thought still unexperienced experimentation has lead to the discovery of a unique as well as tasty wine. For the moment the wine is still arteficially contained to the Ironfur lands. It is planned to introduce it to the world soon. With some luckk it will be well received and the northern White Wine or Frost Wine will be an equell to Dornish Red and Arbour Gold. The key to success lies in the experimentation and development under house Whitefur and further expansion due to house Ironfur while the oriigional idea came from the founder.

House Oldway is one of the few families that stayed upon their lands and embraced the changes. Because of this their familie is the oldest house under the Ironfurs. Over the centuries their keep has often been reduced to ruble and rebuild in another part of their lands. Such was the situation once more when the Ironfurs came. With the planned expansion and improvement of the roadnetwork in their lands the Ironfurs asked the Oldways to raise their keep by the thinnest point that connectet the Twinn Lakes in the fashion designed by them. Other houses would have been insulted by such a command and in fact even the Oldways were furious but did as they were told. When the resources were there for it the Ironfurs build a bridge that connects to the Oldways bailey across the water to the road on the other side. With this the Oldways have gained a trade and stratigic hub upon the territory and their gratitute, loyalty and coffers have swelled ever since.

In the recent years when the attention of the lords wanders to the coastlands their plans for improvement rest on house Seehard. A new house formed by the marriage of two bastard. One a Ironfur the other a Tallhard. They hold lands by the wetlands and their keep stanst close to the sea by the river flowing to the Winces. While the rivers ans mountains have already been turned upside down or are currently doing so the Ironfurs plan to have the Seehards be the center of change in the coastal areas. The house has since its creation been tasked with slowly expanding the pottery industrie as well as the cattle hearding in their lands. In addition smaler forest have been expanded across their land to provide wood. The plans for the house are manyfold but most importantly the wish for them is to build up a small fleet that can protect the coast north of the Stony Shore. For this reason a Tallhard bastard that has shown promise as a naval commander was given these lands and such a important task. Once the coast is secured further expansion will happen all over the coastal wetlands were the words written by the first Ironfur.

People:  
Over the centuries of good leaders and vassels that faithfully follow the Ironfur's orders the number of smallfolk increased from around 100.000 to a massive 432.819. This number is entirely acurate at the moment this text is written because there is not one other house in the north that is as dedicated to know where how many people live and what these people do. This change however has been mostly overlooked by the surrounding lords because even thought more goods come today from their lands the rise has been gradual and as such never been recognised.

Nearly half of the people live by the rivers and have slowly but surely expanded their villages. Were once only a few wooden shags stood by the rivers now there are even some settlements as large as 3000 men with houses of stone found here. Live is comfortable compared to other places in Westeros. Food grown is aplenty, the tilting of the field easy and goods and people can travel with ease all around these parts. Men and women here are known to be larger and broader in body for such a simple reason as a good if a bit hard enviroment. Fishing is mostly a hobby to the people here for they have enought fish coming from the Tallhards and the fields produce more than enough to buy meat instead. While not extremely wealthy the people here are trading with others all over the Ironfur lands and are wealtier for it.

Currently the fastest rising population is in the mountainous lands. While at first the growth of smalfolk was even slightly negativ due to many people resetteling by the rivers by now the same can no longer be said. After all while at first there were actual incentives given to move into the region to get a faster start in the major food production by now the slowly rising industries of stone masonry as well as the wine making are starting to set in. The people here are still growing most of their foodstufs locally but for winter rations and some of the crops with worse inland harvest will be bought form the rivers. The forest along the mountain sides are natural sources of wealth for anyone in the north. Many of the pelts that are traded to the Westerlands actually come from these mountains while their meat is eaten locally.

Lastly there are the coastal flatlands that hold the fewest people. While the plains are perfect for raising all kinds of animals ranging from goats, sheep, cattle and goose to the natural migratory birds making their home there in the summertime the same can't be said for growing foodstuf. The people here are dependent on the trade of meat for vegtable, grain and fruit. Usually the people have a more meaty diet and milk, cheese and local wildlive make up a large part of the cuisine. While at first many of the people moved away to the rivers the population has by now recovered and has even risen by a few thousand people. The people have also become quite addapt at pottery for the the peat and clay all over the lands have proven to be good material for warmth and practice in pottery. Because of the terror the ironborn raiders induced in centuries past even today you will not find a family without weapons for each men and woman present. Some of the better of families even invested in armours made from leathers. It is notable that about half of the regions standing military is stationed in this small region of the land to offer protection and some training.

Army:  
While the smalfolk has risen dramatically under the Ironfurs the military has seen less love. With a rise of about four times the population the army size has only doubled. In fact the house has never been quite as enthusiastic about war as the rest of their northern breathern. Their focus has always been more along protecting chokepoints into their territories with a handfull of men in strong castles. Their military doctrine centers around protecting what they have and not giving ground and while the house has proven to have capable commanders they often prove to be indecisive. The troupes have simply not risen as sharply as the population for this reason and because there has never been a need to muster more. The surrounding houses were already happy with the fact that more military power is present to deter raids and a thousand more men when marching were already a more than welcomed gift to any Stark campain.

The men under the house mirror the families focus of defence over attack and are clad in a heavy gamberson with chainmail underneath and gloves, boots and helmets made from the best steel they can buy from the Dustins. Equiped with heavy shields and maces or long spears with a smaler shield the men-at-arms are slow in the field. Thought this can often be overlocked for the simple fact that their spearwalls have proven themselves to stop even a cavalry charge from knights when their moral is high enough. Thought their staying power in the field is high their real worth lies in defending castles. Many of these men are trained in defending walls from asailing parties and know what to do to defend a castle. Sadly this is rarely needed and overlocked by other commanders and nearly never utilised in wartimes.

The cavalry and archers in their army fall shorter than the rest of their troupes. While there are many archers trained by the house those are often left to defend the keeps and if need be harass enemies that wish to travel further inland. The same holds true to a lesser extend for the cavalry as well. Yet there is also the fact that they have never liked to pay the gold to buy warhorses from the Ryswells. This reason alone kept their cavalry smaller than one would have expected them to have.

They have predominantly heavy infantry that is reknown for their defensive capabilities and as such is often placed on the frontline in larger amounts. The fact that they manage to stop cavalry charges further hightenes their already high death rates because they are taskes with such a brutal duty. Because of these reasons the Ironfurs often lose more men than other northern lords while on campain.

Economy:  
Much like the Slates has house Ironfur recognised the need for trade. This lead to the building of a wast roadnetwork to allow for trade. Still there is a major difference between both families and their focuses. While the Slates are a connecting trade hub that have goods comming to it and tarvel through it the Ironfurs focus more on local trade. This leads to much more weath staying in their lands but at the same time much less is arriving because the outside trade is small. This however may change in the future if they manage to build up a fleet to defend more coastal towns focused on trade to the south and have warships protect their merchant vessels. Their current trading partners are the Glovers, Mormonts and Slates as well as the lands under house Stark.

Their main trading goods lie in their large production of crobs along with their pottery and the stoneworkers cut stone that is desired to build all over Westeros. While most of their goods never leave their lands this will soon change if they are to be believed. After all with the Manderlys controling the eastern trade, the Slates becoming the traders of the center there is still none more likely to fill this position for the western shores than their house.


	10. House Glenmore of Rillwater's Crossing

**And back we go to a house with nearly no information and that is all in all quite unimportant. Thought it was intiresting to figure out a way to link them to the reach.**

**Anyway ... I read a review that asked for the Dreadforth/Bolton's. You may need to know that I usually have the next two chapters finished in case I don't find time to write for a longer period of time. As such the Glover's and Whitehill's(my best yet I would like to believe) are already finished and I am either writing the Mormonts or Manderlys next. And for what I have panned I need to at least finish the Manderly's before the Bolton's can take their turn.**

**There was also the idea mentioned that I could write this from the perspective of someone reading this. Actually a great idea and I might try my hand at that when I have my next vacation and time for some trial and error. Otherwise anyone reading this can try their hands on such a story with anything I write as a base for the reading part or lore part of it. Just tell me so I can enjoy the story as well.**

House Glenmores history is one riddled with uncertainities and half truths. On of these is their claim to once have ruled the lands in the reach now under house Tarly. The Tarlys were in their words the decendants of one of their bastards that took their lands in a revolt. Their house managed to flee to the north. House Tarly that meanwhile became the more properous of the two claims that they had to defend agains one of their bastards that took up the name Glenmore and fled north after his defeat. Even the masters aren`t to sure who is the one speaking the truth. But even with this conflict of who is the bastard the Glenmores still enjoy the status as the northern house with the most contacts to the south. Something worth mentioning is that this took place before the Andal Invasions. As such house Glenmore even thought they have reacher blood flowing in their veins believe in the Old Gods.

As complicated as their bloodline is from their time in the reach it does not get better in the north. Here they claim to instandly have come to conflict with former lords of the Stony Shore and managed to become petty kings over parts of it. Others meanwhile claim that the Glenmores came north and became vassals to a local petty king before overthroughing them by killing them in their sleep on feast. The houses history is full of these claims of honer, power and brilliance while many others always speack about the houses more grimm side. Yet neither can fully support their point of view. At least some thruths can be gotten from all of this. The Glenmores had their roots in the Reach before coming north before the Andal Invasion and are as such followers of the Old Gods. In addition they have many relations in the south and their region is better of for it.

In norhtern history the house has proven itself to be very oppertunistic. When there is a change to safely expand their power and land they will often take it even if it means to betray someone they swore oaths to. Sadly as they often chose the right side in these conflicts their position has always been somewhat secure. In the more recent past this has however become problematic. With the Ironfurs firmly in control of their lands and loyal to the Starks and the Ryswells being thought of as more cunning as well as stronger the house had faced trouble in the recent years. Were once the unprotected lordless lands to their north-east were a place for a bit of additional plunder and the easier target for Ironborn this is no longer the case. You can imagine what this resulted in.

Their sigel is a white bow with a white arrow knocked and ready to be shot. The sigel is easily identifiable as similar to the Tarly s hunter in red.

Familie Words: _"First to Fire"  
_Once again the words of the house and the once the Tarlys use (First in Battle) are quite similar while not the same. While the Tarlys words seem to be extending to all forms as battle. As such their words can also represent their desire to start a fight and show that they are not oposed to fighingt at all. Meanwhile the slight variation with fire instead of battle shows that the house is rather oposed to be the culprit that started a battle. Instead the fire part can show that they are not oposed to fighting but insead will be the site that will begin the battle with the first volley of arrows when it comes to it. This could be because the Starks would be rather oposed to newcommers that make problems on their borders and the house had to take itself back a bit in their bloodthirst.

Hold/Keep:  
Rillwater's Crossing is a old crumbling castle located by the river flowing from the Twin Lakes. The name comes from the fact that one of the view ferrys over the river is located at the foot of the keep. This ferrys location is possibly older than even the castle build close to it. It has always served to bring goods, soldiers and travellers across. Till today it forms one of the most important points of access to the Stony Shore. In fact most goods leaving their lands by land are taken to the other side by the ferry. The ferry controled solely by the Glenmores is one of the most reliable sources of income to the house. There have been plans to build a bridge by this point but the investement has always been seen as not worthwile. After all the trade goods can take the ferrys just as well and there aren't to many soldiers that have to be taken across either. The river on this point is reknown for having a calm flow and is the last place to overflow in case of floding making it a ideal place for setteling.

The castle takes its name from the close by village under the Glenmores control. It is the largest of its kind on the Stony Shore. There have been attemps to change the catsle name to something more powerfull sounding like Hunters Keep or Riverguard but none has ever used those terms instead of Rillwater's Crossing. The village close by is the sole provider of most of the keeps needs and nothing much needs to be imported. The village makes everything ranging from candles, beer, clothes, preserves, firewood to swords, bows and armours. While most of these goods are of low quality and produced in low quantity this makes the keep one of the most self sufficient in the north. The only goods that have to be transported to the village to function properly are all kinds of food. Otherwise small local production takes care of everything.

The keep as mentioned is an old crumbling castle. It was once a strong and proud castle that while not among the best of the north would still be hard to take in a short time. Its position by the river making it harder to attack and easier to defend while giving the castle well easy access to water even in times of siege. The same can no longer be said with the same conviction. The fact that it was build of stone is probably the only reason that it remains standing. Today even castles build of wood are more impressive than this near ruin. The house has lacked the skilled labour and money to repai their keep in a satisfing manner for centuries. Since their neighboors have grown stronger the Glenomores have not kept up and nearly all their skilled stone masons have died in winter or left the lands for a better life in other lands. That their income has tanked has not helped the house as well. By now the house hopes for a good match to a wealth house whose dowry my pay for a restoration of the walls, towers and living quarters.

While the castle still stands some parts of it had to be closed down or sealed of with wood because of holes in the wall or roofs these parts can not be kept warm in the long winters. Among other things the old stone tower that used to be the highest part of the castle has partially broken down a century back. Thankfully it fell in the water and hadn't ripped down a piece of wall. Sadly the tower held the lords quarter and the valyrian steel short sword that the house held for the longest time was lost in the Rillwater forever. Most of the house believed that when the sword is reclaimed their bad luck will change to fortune. Only the future can tell what will happen.

Geography:  
The lands under house Glenmore compromise of the Stony Shore and the islands of the shore. Their lands can be devided in three parts. The easiest to figure out would be the southern islands as they are quite unique. The other two are more interwined. The whole of the Stony Shore is quite a bit over the water line and as such the people call the whole reagon the highlands as well. This leads to the land coming from the west to the east to sink until it rises again to become the mountains the Ironfurs call theirs. In this land the shore to the west makes for one of the regions while the inland areas make for the second region. This devide is quite simply for the betterment of understanding how the land is used and less for a biological reason.

The easiest lands should be started with. As such we have to talk about the islands under their control. These islands are considered part ob the Stony Shore but unlike it these islands have flat coast that can only be reached with smaler boats. They all have a flatland strip of land with thin grass that quickly turns into the snow capped mountains without any vegetation. Only the largest of the three islands by the southern river mouth has a settlement on it while the others are empty. These empty islands are nominally part of the Stony Shore but all sailors coming up or down the coast use these islands to restock. They may not have trees or much wildlife that can be hunted but their fresh water reserves are often tapped into. As they aren't firmly under the Glenmores control the ironborn use these islands as a meatup spot in case of raids. The islands are home to a local type of wild chicken. It is thought that shipwrecked sailers or a failed settlement brought these to the islands in the past. After the humans left these animals turned wild once more. Unlike their domesticated brothers these are larger and capable of flying for extended periouds of time. They also only lay eggs once a year. In winter they fall back to some small caves across the island. They are the most prominent wildlife of the islands but often not worth the time to hunt for sailors.

The Stony Shore is as the name may imply a bit of a different shore. All along the coast are high cliffs that make landing on the shore a hassle would it not be for the hundrets of hidden coves all along it. The cliffs are often temporary exchanges for a small strip of beach with a step cliff that can be climped along small paths. The cliffs are also the highest point of the lands and afterwarts the land is steadily falling. It is interupted by small roling hills but those are just that. Hills. While the shore may be hard to reach and the cliffs uninviting the waters are filled with life. These parts are have of the richest spots of fish in the world. But not only fish can be cought here. It is also home to clams, lobsters and all along the coast whales can be found. Along with the coves that are frequented by seals there aren't many places that contain as much sealife along a partaly settled coast.

The rest of the land is the slowly rolling down grassland. These parts could easily remind one of the southern lands under house Ryswell. But unlike their lands these aren't settled with wild horses. Instead the wild meadows are home to countless hares and foxes. The land is a haven for the hares burrows and the foxes came along when they discovered these substantial hunting grounds. It is thought that no horses crossed over because the river didn't contain any good places for crossing without a boat. The steadyly lowering lands also have the side effect that rivers or rather small creeks are formed all over these parts. Most of these become part of larger streams that flow to the southern river but some of the more northern become a small river that today marks the border to the Ironfur lands. At least for the northern parts. The land is dotted with small woods. By these small woods there are usually the villages. After all even with the abundance of wood that could be bought from other northern houses it is always better to show some independence. As such these small woods are heavily guarded and cutting down of wood regulated to make sure everyone has some for winter.

Lesser Lords:  
The Glenmores have lost much in the way of profit with the arival of the Ironfurs to their east but they also made some gains. While the house has always exploited their eastern region some of the lord also viewed the Glenmores as their actual overlords. As such when the Ironfurs and their reforms have scared of most of the old blooded nobles a large part of them asked to settle lands on the Stony Shore instead of swearing alegiance to the Ironfurs. The Glenmores wanted to use the tressures these men brought and took them all in. Because of this there are an extraordinary high number of lords under the house. Those also have quite the small territories especially for a northern house and became prone to infighting for resources. The tressures the lords brought with them vanished quickly. Having been spend to build up small keeps of wood that caused a shortage of it in the short term and a terrible winter as a result.

One of these travelling houses is the house Peater. They have in the past settled in the coastal wetlands and were one of the first houses to leave their lands. Many of the later lords received quite tiny strips of land but the Peaters as one of the first to leave and one of the houses that previously already paid taxes to the Glenmores managed to secure a good chunck of land. The house today rules land along the southern tip of the Stony Shore. Many of the neighboring houses have received smaller lands and over the years taken away land of the house. Today the house is near ruin because of this as most of the good farmland under their control was taken away by their neighboors.

One of the older local houses and principle banners under the Glenmores are the Clifforts. This house has settled their lands at the north-western corner of the Stony Shore longer than even the Glenmores. This house has survived most of the infighting with newer lords and managed to keep all of their lands. They are one of the strongest house under their liege lords and the most loyal as well. They have often married into the Glenmores for this reason. Their lands along the Stony Shore have many thin stretches of beach that the house exploits by fishing while also giving them trouble because of ironborn raiders that use these to attack their villages.

House Greyfox is one of the local houses that has lost some of their lands to the newcommers but managed to hold onto their core lands. Their lands hold some of the largest burrows filled with hares. They are actually the only treat to the rabbits. Once upon a time when the region held many wolfes instead of foxes the house used a large amount of dogs to protect their herds. While others disposed of the dogs with the vanishing o the wolfes the Greyfoxes retrained their dogs to protect the rabbits. Most of the foxes while clever rather keep to safer hunting grounds without guards. Because of this the Greyfoxes manage to outhunt all other houses in terms of rabbits because they don't have to share their prey with nature.

The Redsands are quite unique on the Stony Shore. They were once a house serving under another petty king in Dorne. After a century they left Dorne and managed to conquer lands in the Riverlands were they swore fealty to a larger house for protection. With the Andal Invasion they again had to leave their land and ended up in the lands now under house Ironfur. They once again decided to move and became lords under house Glenmore. Unlike other houses that left to come under the Glenmores the Redsands managed to convince their smallfolk to move with them. They asked for the largest of the then unsettled islands to the south of the Stony Shore. Their island has since been the only settled one. While the house is heavily dependent on the wood bought from other norhtern houses their settlement has become quite succesfull. Their position and flat shore makes exploiting the fishing grounds easy and the flatlands turned out to be surprising easy to farm. The mountains hold some ore. They have no problem with the ironborn because of a deal. They buy timber fo them as well that is then exchanged for salt. In a away this deal helps both parties while the rest of the western shore is worse of for it. Yet the Glemores are full aware of this and support the decision for a small cut of the profit.

People:  
The lands are only thinly settled because of many reasons. In the recent past the shortage of wood caused by the arival and subsequent building of several new keeps for the new houses lead to much of the population dying. The small squirmished fought afterwards further cut down the population. To make this all worse the new prospects brought by the Ironfurs has many people still leaving their lands even today. The population never managed to recover. The fact that this all also caused the lands to become some of the most raided in the north didn't help either. All in all the people along the Stony Shore have faced a extarordinary tough time in recent years and the local lords haven't been able to rise to the chalenges.

Let's once again begin with the islands. While only one is settled it is unlike the rest of the Stony Shore quite the haven to its people. With farming, animal husbandry and hunting the local birdlife the people would be quite well of in the food department but with the addition of the fish all along the coast they are even quite well of. There may not be any wood on the island but the food they have is enough to buy what they need and more in terms of wood, salt and iron. The fact that they have a deal with the ironborn to buy some wood for them as well kept the people nor only safe but gave them trade with some of the most unlikely neighboors. All in all this is enough for a population of close to 3000.

The rest of the smallfolk lifes all along the Stony Shore. Tought there is a large amount of settlers by Rillwater's Crossing. The more inlands areas have a larger population as well because of the higher difficulty for ironborn to reach there. Otherwise there are no special centers of population or heavily populated parts. Most villages have 100 people living in it at most and most nobles have only 200-300 smallfolk under their control. The lifestyle is mostly similar all over these lands. Most people work on fields litterd with stones. These make it difficult to tild the ground and cause the tools to break often. The people that don't work on the field depending on where they life either try fishing on the coast with varrying chances of success or more often are hunters. With an abundance of foxes and hares to hunt these are important sources of meat and coin for the people. The villages often share some animals together whose produce are used for all. As such the few chicken eggs, some milk and some wool is present in each village. This is sadly often no longer enough for all people present and some has to be bought in addition. Each village has a master of wood that takes care of the woods the village is close to. He decides and later cuts down the trees that he deems necesarry. His position is highly sought after. There are many gravel roads in these lands. While often not wide enough for carts these are quite well made for people travelling by foot.

Army:  
Once upon a time before the local population was cut down so drastically the house managed to field a impressive 1500 men in their hightimes. Sadly they no longer can field such a number. With many villages becoming small and dependent on everyone present only some people can be recruited before the villages face hard times. Because of this the number they can bring has shrunken to 600 men at most. The fact that they have a functioning road network as well as a lot of nobles with raves lead them to manage recruiting 500 soldiers when the army is needed fast.

The largest part of the army is made up of archers. Most of the people in these parts have experience with bows from hunting and own a bow with arrows. When using a bow there is no need to buy materials with money they don't have. This also lead to their army to have nearly no armour. Once their archers are forced into close combat they will be hopelesly outmatched and die.

The second half of their army is made up of pridefull small time nobles. They have refused to give up their title of nobles and continue to own horses and armour that they shouldn't be able to buy. These men actually make for quite the formadible cavalry force. After all the nobles have experience with fighting. Especially against enemys with suppirior number. They are after all the only people that even try to ride down ironborn raiders that attack their already small villages. Surprisingly these men even when so horribly outnumbert manage to force small ironborn raiding parties away from their lands.

Economy:  
The local economy is heavily dependent on trade while at the same time not neading it at all. While most of the goods needed are bought from the north and exchanged for rabbit meat there is sadly a large loss of wealth and people because of the ironborn. As such while trade is actually not exacly needed because all that is needed is more or less present the fact that money is stolen makes it so that trade is needed to replenish such wealth. Connections to the Reach actually make it posible to sustain this loss of wealth. Most of the pelts are sold to the Reach and ships coming from them bring wine and food for cheap into the Stony Shore. The large village Rillwater Crossing is actually the main port were the wine is deposited and the pelts are sold. The wine that is bought for cheap is then resolt by the Glemores all over the north for a small profit. This is not enough to make them actually wealthy but it mittigates most of the loss caused by raids. Thankfully the Redsands are also another source of income with their rather large population.

All in all it can be said that the house Glenmore couldn't hold their position without their reacher friends and the tarde they gain from it. Funnily enough the fact that they own a large part of the wine buisness in the north has caused them to own one of the larger villages along the western shores and made them somewhat a center of trade for southern buisness.


	11. House Glover of Deepwood Motte

**Sorry for the long pause. I had a bit of a hard time writing the Mormont's and couldn't decide if it is just time to release one of the stockpiled chapters. Anyway here is finaly one of the more reknown houses you find in the North once more. Been a while since we had one of those I would say.**

The Glover's are the Norths second prominent masterly house. Together with the Tallhart's they take on the rank as the most mayor lower nobles of the north. Funnily enough even though from a technical point of view their rank should mean that they are less powerful than their lordly fellows this is not the case. While one could argue that this is the case for the Tallhart's the same can't be done with the Glovers. While most expect them to be the second least powerful house history has shown that they are among the lords that actually hold enough power to sway battles and politics with their might.

They like most first men lords have once ruled as kings over their own domain. They could once call the entirety of the Wolfswood their domain. They managed to secure the forest early in their reign by expelling the Blackwood's and extinguishing the Greenwood's. The Blackwood's can today be found in the Riverland's while the Greenwood branch called Forester's serves under the Glover's. Over the following years they then began to lose their control over the woods. With the rise of the house Frost, Amber and Slate they lost Seadragonpoint and parts of their southern woods to outsiders. When the Starks but down these first men kings and the Glover's they kept large parts of the forest to the Stark's. The Glover's by then weren't even a large thread anymore. After years of losing lands to their enemies they grew weak. As such their rank was reduced to a masterly one and their lands never restored. Over the centuries the house began to carry the masterly title with pride and boosted that even with a lower rank their might is still great.

The Glover's have since their time as kings proven their worth and loyalty to house Stark. While in some rebellions they sided with the enemies they never stayed estranged to their lord for long and mended the broken relationships. The fact that most of their border is with the Starks has often lead to these conflict and betrayals while at the same time resolving them by granting or taking away parts of the lands in the Wolfswood. The close borders also often lead to house Glover supporting policies of the Starks in exchange for favours or favourable conditions in the wood trade or even the paying for road repairs. Ever since the start of their vassalhood they have learned to walk the thin thread of punishments and rewards the Starks use to rule the North.

Something special about the Glover's smallfolk is that physically they are more prone to grow fat. The diet between the local populace is not any different to other regions and the people certainly don't gorge themselves on the amount of food that would allow for one to grow fat. It is a mystery to any why the people there seem to have an easier time putting on weight but it certainly helps in their survival. While maesters would love to research how this happens the rules on human experiments and the strictness of northern lords in protecting their smallfolk have proven themselves as hindrances in finding the root cause through human experiments.

Their sigel shows an iron glove on a red background. The glove can be either stitched in a rough manner or in detail depending on the placement as a decoration or something like a banner.

Family Words: _"Our Forest, our Blood, our Right"  
_The Glovers are one of the houses that like to change their words every other century. The words currently used by the house are old ones. They were once upon a time used by the family and likely rediscovered in some old tome. They supposedly date back to the time their family was still a royal one and besieged on all sides by enemies. This was a rallying cry to local lords and their retainers as well as smallfolk to fight for the Glovers. At this time, they still could call the forest theirs by blood and right of conquest and as such tried to oppose enemy conquest by rioting the smallfolk to their side. If these words actually did as they were supposed to no one knows anymore. What is still clear is that the Glovers changed to these words once more after the north came under house Targerian's rule and wanted to remind the Starks that they should have fought. Today the house is likely to change their words once again to better fit the time and the rule of house Baratheon that they supported in taking the throne.

Hold/Keep:  
The ancient keep of the Glover's is Deepwood Motte. The castle has always been a wooden one as they have plenty of it in the middle if their forest. It was built on an artificially raised hill in the middle of a forest plain with the donjon at its highest point. With the donjon at the top they build three walls around the hill and its bottom as defences for their keep and the local smallfolk. While the topmost wall is solely for the additional protection of the main keep the other two hold houses of various people. The land enclosed in the middle wall and the topmost one hold many of the most important people of the keep. Here you can find the local blacksmith, the brewer, the horse stalls and even the house of the local garrison. The lowest district holds many of the less important structures like the inn, mill, butcher, leatherer and some of the wealthier smallfolk. Outside of the walls stand some additional houses that the woodcutters, field hands and the hunter call their home.

The castle while build with wood and often repaired over the ages but has not seen much change all in all. The place on top of the hill does not give the lords much room for expanding the structure and at the same time no one wants to heat empty rooms in the winter. Despite this Deepwood Motte holds a few secrets in its walls if you would believe legends. It is said that under the artificial hill there is a cavern that holds a giant larger than any that ever-walked Westeros. Only through the main keep may one access this cavern and when you prove yourself to the giant you may gain his blessing to become strong and smart. It is a common greeting when visiting the Glover's in Deepwood Motte to ask too see the giant. Usually they tell you that they may only let you visit if you fell the largest three you find and pull it up the hill alone. As one would imagine no on has ever done so but if you would manage to do so you probably no longer would need a giant's blessing.

Something noteworthy about the keep is that all the roads leading or coming from it are in good condition as they are used to transport large amounts of wood to the various rivers leading to the White Knife for further shipping.

Geography:  
As the house that is known to have ruled over large parts of the Wolfswood for centuries it should come to no surprise that this forest makes up for most of the land under the Glover's control. Yet there are still some important land features one has to talk about when mentioning Glover lands. For example, there is the small but long peninsula that stretches far into the bay of ice and build the closest mainland connection to Bear Island. There are also the large plains in the north-east of their lands and the fact that the closer you get to the northern mountains the more rugged the terrain gets until you finally exit the forest and see the rising mountaintops.

Let's start with the most prominent Wolfswood. It was already mentioned in the text about Stark lands how they use their part of the Wolfswood. Depending on human influence a lot can actually change in a forest thanks to human hand and the farther you enter the domains under the Glovers the clearer one can see this as the truth. The Glover's more so than any other house have tended to their forest and kept many of the local flora and fauna alive and thriving. This led to them owning the most authentic ancient forest where you can find large amounts of medical herbs, mushrooms and even more live than the rest of the Wolfswood. The most predominant animal the wolf can be found in even larger numbers than the rest of the forest. In addition many more boars, dear, foxes and hares as well as countless other animals are found in larger number than anywhere else. The continues protection of the woods and its live lead to the first profession that simply exist to protect the forest. Parts of the wood are actually dedicated for large scale tree cutting. While many more cut down trees all over the forest as well these trees are the main stay of exports from the lands. The many plains you find in the forest are either settled and used for farming or are roamed by a plethora of wild animals. A fact worth mentioning is that their part of the forest holds the largest ironwood forest in Westeros.

The large peninsula or as the locals call it the Bear Claw is one of the more wonderous landmarks of the north. This thin stretch of land is thought to have once connected the Bear Isle with the rest of the Wolfswood but legends say that the bear broke its claw thanks the wolfs maw. While the tale is questionable it is a reasonable thought to think that a land bridge once connected to the isle in this point. This peninsula today marks for the end of commercial merchant vessels. While sailing up the western coast is already dangerous thanks to the Ironborn from this point on the ships from merchants would simply make no more profit. The claw as such forms a natural stop for larger southern ships on the northern coast. Aside from stopping naval travel the peninsula with its thin strip of land makes for surprisingly good farmlands. In addition, the sea around these parts is while colder than even the one on the eastern shore calm and not prone to storms.

Lastly, we need to mention the large open fields and hills of the north-eastern parts of land. These are much like the northern hills under Stark control the offshoots of the northern mountains. These lands have been freed from forest since ancient times and have always played an important role to the Glover's. While the trees make them money the arable lands in the forest are even in addition to local hunting, fishing and plants not enough to sustain the local populace. This hilly lowland meanwhile holds fertile fields for plantation of everything a human may need. In a way this is the corn chamber that sustains the rest of the forest dwellers. Yet these lands are still in parts wild and untamed with wolfs stalking the animals of farmers and deer jumping over the same fields you can fiend cows in.

Lesser Lords:  
Something very unusual about the Glover's are their vassals. This is not because of the houses themselves but rather the ranks they hold. Under them you will find lordly families, masterly houses and even clans with noble status. While lower masterly houses serving under a major masterly house are common the same can not be said about the other two. Normally lower lordly houses do not serve under a masterly one as their titular standing is quite close and could cause unrest not to mention that such houses must come from the outside and cannot be granted minor lordly status by their masterly lieges. Even more special are the noble clans. The Glover's are among the rare houses to have those serving under them. Only other houses close to the northern mountains have such clans and even among them the Glovers hold the majority. The only other lords that have such noble clans under them and do not live close to the northern mountains are found in the Vale where some savage clans have decided to let the fighting rest and were acknowledged as minor nobles. Thought this is perhaps a story for another time.

**(Is now the right time to confess that I am not yet far enough in the book to have read about them when Stannis is in the North?)**_**  
**_Among the noble clans are the Bole's, Branch's and Wood's and among others a branch of the Flint's. Life is always relative similar among the noble clans under the Glovers. All the noble clans hold lands inside the forest and function in tightly knit villages with a few hundred people. They are a self-sufficient bunch. A common sight for them are the heart trees that stand in the centres of their villages and the large communal houses that the hole village lives in in winter to save wood for heating and for protection from outsiders. These clans often live in the more remote parts of the forest because their sense of community hindered them from forming new villages in their lands and expending human life. Much of the forests protection and care into preserving it comes from these clans and the families they marry into.

None may declare to have more ironwood than house Forester. Their house is the one that controls most of the ironwood that is scattered across the world but mostly centred around their lands. Their house is also the only one that can declare to be able to work the wood and even burn it with sufficient expertise. Sadly, or depending on the once you ask thankfully the house has not decided to sell more of their usually inflammable wood across Westeros even with the arrival of dragons. Their ironwood may be the only material that will not be instantly scorched by dragon flame. None may tell if the house decided against selling more of their wood to not incur the Targerian's wrath or because they saw no need to. Either way this decision kept them from the Targerian's view. The house is rivals to the Whitehills that border the Glover's in the east by the Forester lands. Their keep pf Ironrath is a soundly build fortress placed in a large crevice that can't be scaled to attack from above.

House Claw is one of the masterly families and controls over half of the Bear Claw from the tip to a bit south of the middle. Their house hold the last port that southern ships are willing to sail to and as such much of the trade that would come from the more coastal mountain clans is brought by them to their harbour of Last Coin. Through this they are richer than most other Glover lords even if their trade is among the poorest on the coast. After all, even a little coin in can become a fortune if you have several hundred of them. In addition, their lands while often swept over with cold winds is fertile and many of the ships coming here restock their supplies in their harbour before sailing back south or making a last lading on Bear Isle for some furs.

Lastly there is the masterly house of Grainly located in the bread basket of the Glover's. Neither powerful or prestigious they are among the houses that produce and protect the fields that produce corn, bean and vegetables for much of the forest. Something special about the house however has become the animal feed that they specially produce for the Umber lands. Over the centuries some of the other houses have copied this and a not insignificant part of the land is dedicated in the production of animal feed for winter for other northern lands. The Grainly's as the first should be named and singled out among the other masters that adopted such a trade.

People:  
The lands under the Glover may not be diverse in their biomes but the people certainly live very different lives depending on their location in these lands. Where otherwise one can go after the regions one already mentioned in the section of geographies and list how most people live in these parts the same can't be done for the Wolfswood and its inhabitants. But I digress let us start with the simpler regions.

The people on the Bear Claw life a live much different that other people in the Glover lands. Being the last place southern ships trade with made them into a hub for southerners that wish to witness the wilder sides of the north and the Wolfswood. As such they have a niche industry that nearly none other place holds. Tourism. While the people often instantly decide that these lands are to cold to stay for longer than a few days they certainly still keep coming and contribute to many thriving taverns, brothels and funnily enough even the otherwise odd septs in these parts. Many of those coming do not venture in the Wolfswood and instead fuck the cold away in brothels. The best part coming from this is actually that Ironborn ignore the Claw and instead raid the Glover's bread basket. After all they still do not want to draw to much attention with large scale raids in Westeros that these harbours would be. The people here are among the heaviest drinkers in the north and the merriest as well. Their skills include talking southern visitors into giving out rounds of beer for the hole tavern and in the next morning working the fields, harbour or guard without seeming hangover. They number around 6000. Certainly, a sizable number for such a small area.

The bread basket holds about 60.000 people. Actually, even the locals call these lands by this name for it is the simple truth about the place. These lands are dotted by farms and villages dedicated to produce as much food as possible and sell it for everything they need. There is neither large scale animal herding nor mining, logging or hunting in these parts. The people produce grains like crazy and exchange those for vegetables, hides, salt, wood and clothes. The people are certainly not poor by any description of the word but definitely single minded in their ways. The largest production aside from grain is the bread made from it. The people are professionals in the from of baking all kinds of bread be it hard bread for sailors, black bread for themselves , soft white bread for nobles or the tasteless long-lasting local specialty winter bread. Their lands and people are a favourite target for the Ironborn for the food they produce. The locals have actually become so used to small scale raiding that they leave an undefended barn with food for the Ironborn if they have no guards in their villages. Often the Ironborn leave with this simple peace offering and try not to push for too much from their safe source of food.

And in the end, we have the largest area the Wolfswood. As mentioned above the people here life a most diverse life. People living under the noble clans will life in villages as large es their believe in family allow them. This is often limited by their farmland for they try to sustain their live only on what they can produce locally. They do sell wood to the outside but that is mostly to cover what they can't find in their own lands and only in small amount. Thinks like iron or salt are often the only thinks that these people trade for. They are among the few that rather barter that use hard currency. These people are closely nit and will fight to the last for their villages for all are families in them. They only reach nearly 10.000 all over the forest. Then there are those living in the forest but under normal lords. While there is still a sense of camaraderie and brotherhood to the people here it is nowhere close to the clans. The people here are much more open to selling and buying thinks that the need. Do not understand them wrongly. If need be these people could probably sustain themselves from the forest for a long time even if cut of from trade but their lives would be harder for it. These people can't produce enough food and buy much of the overproduction the bread basket has going for it. The trees they cut down are in turn their primary good. Depending on where in the forest you live you ship them down the tributaries that lead to the White Knife and sell them to the Slate's merchants or directly bring them to other houses on the western shores through many rivers and channels. No matter where they end up the Glover's smallfolk makes most of their money here. Other thinks that these people bring with them are rare herbs when asked for and often large amounts of hides. The people here learned something from the Tallhart's as well. Ice fishing is a skill that loggers bringing their wood to Torrhen's Square locked at and copied for the small lakes of the Wolfswood. Their number stands at about 120.000. And at long last there are the people living in the Wolfswood but resting along the shores. They number only in the low thousands. Ironborn attacks have brought them further inland for protection. Many my wonder where the Ironborn with their barren isles get their wood from. One source was already mentioned with the Glenmore's vassal but another are the unprotected shores of the Wolfswood. While they only cut down trees close to the shore when no one is supposed to see them sometimes they are attacked by these shore dwellers that defend their forests. Aside from fighting of Ironborn their lives are close to the more inland dwelling people. Another think that need to be mentioned is the hills that rise in their western lands people living in these parts while still in the Wolfswood sometimes mine instead of cutting wood for their living.

Army:  
The army under house Glover certainly fits the normal describing of a northern army like a glove. Their men are a miss matched bunch with large bodies and dirty beards. Men specialise in whatever weapon they have on hand. Be it an axe, sword or mace with a shield or a bow with arrow. The one thing you will likely not fiend these soldiers wielding is a spear. Their armour is often a gambeson or leather armour. Most importantly these men wear thick clothes under their armour against the cold. While this is the initial goal of the clothing it also makes for another layer of protection against slashing weapons. They fall exactly in the one to four ratios with their army's division between foot and cavalry. Their horses are naturally bought from the Rywell's and perform to the usual standard of their warhorses. While their cavalry is certainly not a bad one it does lack behind the quality of southern knights. It is however able to match charges with normal southern cavalry in a equal manner.

Economy:  
The Glover's have one of the more thriving northern economies. Their produce match exactly what one has come to expect from northern goods and mostly consist of the wood and hides you can find in the lush Wolfswood. Selling the main stay of northern exports certainly has its benefits for no other goods are easier to sell than those merchants come for. In addition, the lands provide much of the goods needed to lead a good life. Even imports of food from the Reach, Vale and Riverland are only high before a winter and the people want to be safe with their ladders. What the lands severely lacks at all times of the year however are alcoholic beverages that they buy from the north and south in large amounts. It puts their intake and output of coin at a slight plus but does not lead to vast accumulation of wealth. Their last northern harbour however makes them one of the rare lords to have a somewhat urbanised strip of land that could produce a great deal of coin under the right hands.


	12. House Whitehill of Highpoint

**Well I am back and brought to you a house that I found really easy to write. They have many things one could make up things for without needing to imagine something completely new. I have taken a bit of creative freedom with their lordships position to make them fit better with my ideas. All in all I think I like them the most compared to all other houses I have written about until now. Then again many of the earliers need a little bit of a rework after reading them over once more. Might do that sometime in the far future.  
**

The Whitehill's are certainly the most unusual house in the north one can meet. The house is the second major lordship that follows the faith of the seven along with the Manderly's. Today most nobles don't remember how this house came to rule lands in the north. Yet the maesters have preserved their rise to prominence in the north. Theirs is the only Andal noble house that managed to secure lands in the north. While the North was the only First Man kingdom able to withstand the Andal tide even they had to face some loses in the fighting. While the stories about their raiding of Andalos is legendary the truth often holds some surprises for the ones searching. While it is true that the Andal invasion was stopped the same can't be said about migration. While only a few select peasants wandered north to find a new life and ultimately converted to the old gods and the ways of the first man one noble house that found no luck in the south turned to the north. Those were the Whitehill's. They were unlike the Andal adventurers that set up petty kingdoms and lordships. Noble Andal blood flowed through their veins but they were among the weakest of the Andal nobility and among the last to make their way to Westeros. Still they managed to flee before the pillaging of Andalos by the Stark's and in a way worsened it as well. When they didn't find land in the south their view went to the north but unlike their fellow Andals they chose not to be aggressive and instead pleaded for land in Winterfell. While one would imagine they would be turned away the Stark's they granted them lands in return for their help in pillaging Andalos. Most of the major wealthy towns, septs and prosperous undefended settlements the Starks raided were brough to their attention by the Whitehill's. Ships filled with treasure returned from Andalos and the Whitehill's received a small lordship. The house was not forced to convert then because the lords thought their conversion would happen naturally like the Andal smallfolk that came to their lands.

The position and size of the lordship under house Whitehill was carefully chosen in the past. While they had proven their loyalty with their betrayal of the other Andals the Starks viewed to the south and saw how treacherous their fellow houses were. To curb any thoughts of aggression they received what amounted to a normal sized lordship in the south yet the smallest one in the north. The house was not to remain as a minor house as the Andals have shown themselves to be masters at intrigue and as such they became a direct lordship under the Starks as a bannermen instead of a minor noble. Their lands were to be surrounded by the Starks, Glover's and Mountain Clans. Trying to gain lands in any of those directions with deceit would be next to impossible with the norths strongest house the Stark's to the south, the fierce mountain clans to the north that would react aggressive towards losing their lands and the way stronger Glover's in the west. Only by the small border with the Waterman's could they possibly expand but these lands lay behind the offshoots of the northern mountains and would be hard to gain and hold. Not to mention their precarious position as a most unusual lordship. This limited position lead to the house developing a rivalry with the Forester's under the Glover's in hopes to expand their control in the western direction when the Forester's are on the bad side of the Glover's and unprotected or at least less protected. While most other lordships gain and lose a few square kilometres to their neighbours all the time the same has not happened in their lordship at all.

Even with the lord's being of the faith of the seven the populace has kept to the old gods and their weir woods. While other Andal houses chopped them down the Whitehill's never dared to do such a thing but instead erected several septs in their lands to spread their faith. Most of them remain unvisited by smallfolk and turned into storehouses for grain over the years. Yet those that are visited are the home to some of the rare northern knights. Only here can you find what amounts to a southern tourney when the Whitehill's want to show their wealth. Over the centuries the Whitehill's have started to marry some of the more open northern houses instead of marrying their members to the south. This led to them becoming more like the north in their ways over the years. But still southern houses have an easier time conversing with them than the other northern houses because they still learn to use flowery words and remain more savvy in intrigue and half truths that other northern houses that like to simply speak the truth.

Their coat of arms is an inverted white pile with seven four pointed white stars above on a violet back drop.

Family Words: _"Reborn in Winter"  
_Those were the words chosen by the Whitehill's to not only prove their rebirth as a northern house but their new loyalty to the Starks. While others boost of their might the Whitehill's at the time of their relocation to the north had none remaining. But with the destruction of Andalos the house gained lands, wealth and once more smallfolk to call their own. In the north by the kings of winter the Whitehill's were reformed into new one. At least the official description of their house words states them as such but many maesters find it more likely that it was an attempt at boot liking and grovelling many Andal houses showed when they were newly formed and had nearly no strength of their own.

Hold/Keep:  
The Whitehills have one of the more defensible and impressive castles of the north. Located at the beginning of their mountainous domain the castle rest on a lonely mountain top. One could argue that their banner shows this mountain top on it. This castle is certainly not easily assailable with its position. Only from one direction you could take a path up the mountain and possibly bring siege equipment with you. It however does lack certain features that differentiate great castles form adequate once. For one does the castle lack a properly structured defence. If you manage to take one of the walls your chances are great at taking the rest of the castle quite swiftly where for example you still would have quite a fight on hand with the Ironfur castle. Not to mention that the castle lacks matriculations that could take its defences up another notch even if they were only placed by the normally assailable side.

What makes the castle however impressive is the fact that the entire structure was made of stone. The raid on Andalos made the Whitehills quite wealthy for a short time and financed one of the grander northern castles. The castle has nearly only vaulted ceilings and the stone floors that these enable. This made the structure one of the more robust. Its capability to withstand large amounts of snow on its flat roofs comes from exactly these vaulted ceilings. In addition, has the house taken great care to encase their halls with another wooden layer. This was a trick they learned about from ibanese whalers to keep more of the heat of chimneys in the castle. Since the implantation in Highpoint this has become a feature many northern castles adopted for themselves. Thought none come close to the beautifully carved murals taken from the seven-pointed star that adorn their walls and give the castle a very southern feeling instead of the northern more practical one.

Highpoint is also one of the rare northern castles to have a inbuild sept with a septon and septa serving in it. Still one can find a weir wood tree in their courtyard. No doubt was the presence of the weir wood tree a requirement of the Starks for the building of the castle. This tree has become the centre point of the courtyard and is adorned by one of the norths most beautiful flower beds. One can find all the rare beautiful flowers like blue roses and northern spring shine in this garden. Certainly, the castles look is unique in all of the north were it not for the Manderly's having build an as impressive southern touched castle.

The castle has however fallen into disrepair over the years. While the wealth at the start of the house was great it quickly was spent and the centre tower suffered for it. While the house is certainly not poor, they have not managed to cover the costs of keeping an as large central tower as they had heated and in use in the north. As such the tower was given up and has become more of a ruin over the years. While one could still reach the top trough a set of ladders and stairs only the rare scout watching for the arrival of guest comes up there. The rest of the castle however has been kept in great shape and regular repairs on minor things are often made in the summer.

Geography:  
While their lands may be the smallest of any major northern noble their position gives them as much diversity as any other massive lordship. From the offshoots of the northern mountains to the small parts of the Wolfswood under their control and the flat valley encased in between the house can count three distinct parts of territory.

Nearly half of their lands consist of the offshoots of the northern mountains. These form the entirety of the eastern territory and consist of taller mountains in the north while the south already has the smaller rolling hill one can find in the Starks northern territories. These lands hold in it two great corridors one can easily enter the territory through. Otherwise you would need to take some of the more hidden mountain roads that are not officially maintained and more of a dirt trail used by locals. Transporting goods in and out of the territory usually takes either of these roads. One lead right through the middle of the mountain ranges and ends in the Kingsroad while the other is following the mountain ranges to the south making its way to Winterfell and its close harbour. These mountains hold and immeasurable amount of ore and are mined extensively. It is not uncommon to find villages all along the trails and roads by these mountains that have a mine at its centre and the rest of the village as support. The north is dominated by more salt, copper and lead mines while the south has many more iron mines. You can easily notice that you left the mountainous parts of the land when you come from the Kingsroad and finally pass Highpoint. Afterwards you finally stand in the valley.

The valley is certainly a blessed one. Its position in the shade of the Northern mountains gives it protection against most of the northern winds. Even snow is usually uncommon in winter. All the clouds will lose their snow in the mountains or in the mountains to the east. Meanwhile the western winds only carry the clouds to the edges of the Wolfswood. It is common to have a cloud free sky in the valley. Yet the lands have water and small rivers and streams in abundance. The snow in the mountains does melt and flows south into the valley in enough quantity to allow for extensive farming with the help of irrigation channels. While it does not snow even in winter the people are not freed from the cold that comes with it. But still even with the cold winds thanks to the clear skies and snowless landscape one can heard animals even in winter. Crops meanwhile refuse to grow in such a cold. This blessing has however proven itself to be a problem in the past. Thought this is a story for the people section. The streams and the abundant sun have turned the admittedly small valley into a lush green landscape ideal for all forms of animal husbandry and farming. In addition to the Starks southern territory these lands are one of the few places where you can find large swaths of land dedicated for fruit production.

Lastly there is the small strips of land that are part of the Wolfswood under their control. Originally not part of their intended domain the Whitehill's received these pieces of forest for standing loyally with the Stark's. Having received these parts around the same time as the Karstark's were founded is all one has to mention in this case. Unfortunately for the house the parts of the forest they received where to the south of their land and not the ironwood filled lands of the northern border under the Forester's. These parts of the forest are used much like the once under Stark control. Filled with wildlife and in front of all wolves these lands produce an ample number of hides and red meat for the populace. Trees from here are predominantly used in the mountain mines in the southern territory.

Lesser Lords:  
Most northern Houses have masterly once or lesser lords serving in their lands. Some even have clans under them as lesser nobles. Yet the Whitehill's are perhaps even more of an anomaly in the north with their lesser nobility. They as one of the few houses following the faith of the seven have landed knight serving as nobility. Effectively they serve the same social standing as lower masterly once for other lordships. Still this anomaly makes the Whitehill's one of three northern houses to field knight in wars as few as those may be. Weirdly enough the fact that people of the wrong faith govern over them does not seem to matter to the smallfolk.

Because of the lordships size there exist no major lord under them that could be counted as vital for the lordship's wellbeing. The family that has come the closest to become such has been the Caves. Their house is one of the old houses that settle these lands even before the Whitehill's received lands. While others left because they wouldn't serve a house believing in the seven their family stayed. This show of loyalty has been rewarded over the ages. While not even close to the Whitehill's in strength they have often married into the family or their lands been the side of expansion efforts. Their lands in fact are along the southern road by the mountains and have benefitted from road improvements, tax reductions and their large iron mines have often been the main provider for iron in the lordship.

Another house worth mentioning are the Poole's of Stonegate. They are a branch family of the Poole's serving under house Stark and received the lands along with house Whitehill. The Starks know of the houses expertise as stewards and has thought it wise to help the new house in the harsh north and reward their stewards by giving them a branch family. While the Whitehill's may not have an as close relation to the Starks as the Cerwyn's the Poole's remained close to their family and have considerable influence through it. They help each other by lowering taxes for goods and using for example their harbour free of charge whenever they can.

While some of the evergreen valley is under the Whitehills direct control most is placed under dozens of small landed knights. These knights often only hold these lands for a single generation but often their sons manage to become knights as well and with a bit of luck remain in control of their lands. Among these knightly houses there still exist a large amount of change throughout a century. Among the knights that have managed to retain lands or regain them over the years there are the Lance's, Brown's, Fisher's and Melby's. these houses have managed to stay a relative constant in the lands and could be somewhat recognisable among their fellow knights for their better training in etiquette and their better armour. Their members also can often be found in southern tourneys while we have summer.

A last house worth to mention that one might encounter in the north are the Nought's. Their house hold the eastern side of the valley pass through the territory. While most of the rest of the lordship is well protected from anyone wishing to come in from outside this lordship does not have such a blessing. They are the only minor lords that will be called upon to deal with wildlings that come past the wall from the Whitehill's vassals. As such they have a rather well-maintained relationship with the Umbers and other houses that have to deal with the wildlings slipping past the watch. Not to mention that they hold one of the two best roads to gain excess to the river shipping of the White Knife and its tributaries and as such control part of the trade of the lordship.

People:  
When the Whitehill's first received these lands they must have been to the smallfolk like the Targerian's have been to the westerosi nobility. Strange and foreign believing in different thinks than oneself. They did have a hard time to gain their smallfolk's trust and keep stability in their rule at the beginning. Yet after all the time they ruled these lands the populace has become trusting towards the house and found them to be northerners still even if not by blood at first.

Once again because of the size of the lordship the people here even if in different biomes manage to life a similar life at large. The people in the mountains may work more in the mines than the forest dwellers that live as lumberjacks and in turn do, they compared to the valley's farmers and herders. Still the people here are more connected than any other. In winter the mountains populace will even move into extra building in the valleys villages to better make it through the winter. The old unused septs turned into small stone storehouses for these people in winter and their cattle comes with them to graze and house with the local's herds. In total there live 40.000 people in these lands.

The uniqueness of this lordships winter has led to a problem as mentioned before but also to the continued survival of many more people than elsewhere in the north. While in a normal Winter the people can still let their animals graze and gain milk produce, eggs and meat from them this led to the people becoming dependant on it for surviving winter. The people here often have smaller stockpiles than any other for winter. Now while it is rare to happen once very few centuries there is a rather harsh winter that will not only last longer than a normal one but bring snow even to this evergreen valley. With the populace never bothering to store to much food because of the continuous animal herding such a winter leads to many more people dying in winter than anywhere else in the north. Normally this is exactly the other way around any other winter.

This weather also allows this lordships diet to be somewhat different from all others. In summer years the mountains still offer protection from harsh cold winds and as such there are actually fruit plantations in this lordship. Most of the populace can enjoy many apples throughout the year and many recipes in northern fashion came from it. Mashed apple porridge is certainly one of the recipes that made its way south to our smallfolk and kitchens as well. This large addition of fruit instead of wild berries and vegetables has led to the people developing somewhat of a sweet tooth even if they do not use sugar. How to turn an apple into a sweet candy like sauce is a well-kept secret of the locals.

Army:  
The army of this lordship is one of the three that can actually field knights as their cavalry. In fact, because the valley and the many small knightly houses that try to gain lands in the area there are even as many knights in this lordship as in the Manderly lands. The constant struggle to gain and keep lands has led to many of these knights joining southern tourneys and become well trained with the lance and horse. While many do not have an as impressive set of armour as their fellow knights, they make up for it in ability and northern ferocity. In addition to that these knights often own horses bought from Ryswell land. Should a charge meet a southern battle line they will break it more often than not. Because of all the knights the house makes it a point to not requite to many footmen in case of marching south. Often the well-trained knights are prefered compared to another 1000 untrained peasants.. ,

The foot the house can field often remains in the north. While the house has shown in the past to be able to raise a total of 1500 soldiers their lordships has been the worse for it. While a third of them are knight the house often allowed to keep the remaining in the north and do not field them. They are however capable of raising them in the same amount of time their knights usually take in gathering.

Economy:  
The lordships economy is a simple one to document. With easy access to both a White Knife tributary and the Kings Road along two major roads the lordship has a consistent flow of goods. While neither lie directly in the lordship the short excurse to it has never bothered merchants or stopped them from coming into these lands. Certainly, one reason for this is that this is one of the last lordships where they can restock on grains and the like to sell for larger profits once they reach the even more northern lordships. In addition, the minerals and the closeness and easier access to the Forester's lands with iron wood make for an enticing tread to many a merchant trading in the north. These lands certainly are renown for the fruit they produce and trade well with them. Other lordships buy them in mass to turn into preserves for the winters. While there is a flow of goods in the lordship it can be said that its size has stopped the lords from growing to strong.


	13. House Mormont of Bear Isle

**Well ... thanks to the homeoffice bacsue of corona I now have some more time for writing so here is the next chapter.  
I always thought it was strange for a Hightower to marry a Mormont and have let my imagination run a bit wild to find a reason. I think I found a well reasoned explanation why it happened ... or at least I hope so. Anyway I might try to write a version with dialogue about this "book" set in the world sometime these weeks. Mayby from a merchants point of view or some noble in the south locking for a fitting marriage.**

The Mormont's are a house we already have touched upon in two previous houses chapters. Namely the Tallhart's and Glover's have contributed a small part of the house's history already. With the Glover chapter we already learned that Bear Isle was once upon a time a peninsula connected to the north. This has allowed the ancient first men and animals to come to the island without much knowledge of sailing. The Tallhart's have given us the history of how the Mormont's came to rule the island. With the revolt and subsequent wrestling match the island was granted to the Mormont's by the Stark's. These will be further explored in some later parts of the chapter but needed to be mentioned at the start to recall what should already be known.

The Mormont's count among the Stark's most principle banner men. It would be quite a wonder to find a northern army without at least a token force of Mormont's soldiers swinging their banner and crashing into enemy lines. This house along with the Reed's have in all of history shown itself to be only loyal to the Stark's. Not once have the two of them sided against the house they swore their oaths to. As such even in the south the house is while mostly obscure in its history and situation renowned for its loyalty and honour but also for their pride in their past. After all their house even if only uplifted later by the Stark's is part of an old noble family line that some speculate is about as old as the Stark's themselves. This often is further cemented by the fact that most believe the family to be a rich one. After all, not many houses own a valerian steel sword in Westeros and the fact that every northern army has had some Mormont forces in it has further cemented their wealth as a fact to the outside world. Sadly, this couldn't be further from the truth. The house is among the poorest nobles you can find in the North. It is truly a fact many are surprised about when they first find themselves in the hospitability of the Mormont's and find themselves in a rugged if homely hall for dinner instead of a beautiful hall adorned with rich decorations.

This directly leads us to the fact that unlike all other family's chapter this one has not their keep in its title but rather the whole islands name. This is simply because of how the south views the island and its inhabitants. The island is much like the island the Tarth's rule in the Stormlands. Many people do not really know much about either isle but bring incredible wealth in correlation with them. With the Tarth's it is sapphires but any southern noble knows this not to be true. After all many have come into contact with the house because of its location. The same is not true for the bear isle. Its remote location lead to even nobles believing the island to be filled with bears, gold and emeralds in unimaginable quantities. After all their mountains are high and what else could fill them most nobles will argue and the Ironborn certainly raid them often enough that there must be treasure on the island. This all lead to people bringing about a myth about how the house governs the island all alone and the entirety of it is under their strict rule with every village having at least a hut for the Mormont's should they visit. As mentioned, this all is incredible wrong and will be disproven in this chapter.

At long last let us touch upon the house's history once more. In the chapter about the Tallhart's we already got to know that they were granted the island by the Stark's. This leads us to the question what the house has done before receiving the island. They are said to have arrived to the north along with the Stark's as kind of a retainer family and acted as their stewards, guard captains and sometimes ruled a keep for short amounts of time in the Stark's name. Even then their loyalty was without question but because the Starks had to grow the lands, they themselves would directly hold and had a tendency to have defeated houses swear loyalty to them instead of obliterating them they lacked the lands to grant them for the longest time. When they won the Bear Isle, they had to make a decision. Just recently before they have freed up the lands that are now ruled by the Tallhart's for the Mormont's. But as fate would have it with the new island in their possession, they would rather have their most loyal retainers rule it instead of the new house Tallhart. On a side note the wrestling match between the Stark's and the Ironborn king is often debated to have been a battle of words rather than an actual fight because both kings were said to be rather well read than prodigious in bodily strength. Since then the house had to deal with many Ironborn incursions and with the odd wildling raid that take a ship to Bear Island. As the house still is firmly in control of their island it is clear that the managed to defend it every time it was attacked.

The houses coat of arms shows a black bear on a forest green background adorned with pine trees in the background.

Family Words: _"Here we Stand"  
_The words of the Mormont's are more of a statement than a thread or promise. For no matter what the house faces they will remain steadfast. No matter if it is in the face of raiders be, they wildlings or Ironborn, the harsh climate they live in or in supporting their liege's wars. Their people and the house itself shall always come to take part. It doesn't matter whether they lose or win as well for the house shall still be alive and remain standing tall on their island.

In recent years the house however faces trouble. Their house words more often than not are confused with words commonly associated with the house. In that regard they truly are like the Lannister's. So, let it be written down that "Khaleesi please I love you" are not the house words. Thought the word still speak of devotion and service they are otherwise to be interpreted completely differently. **(Sorry I had to add this from the parody on YouTube. It is to good not to mention.)**

Hold/Keep:  
Mormont Keep is the seat of power for the Mormont's. Not that any other house would name their castle after another family for that matter. Their island shaped vaguely like a croissant you would find in the Reach and surrounded by the frozen waters of the Bay of Ice houses their keep. It is built in the giant bay to the north eastern corner on a stretch of sailable stony shore. Moss covered mountains quickly begin to rise behind the small settlement the Mormont's command. Let me take you on a little trip on what one would see when arriving as a visitor believing to find riches.

You have just started your journeys last leg from the Bears Claw and spend the better part of your days stuffed in the cold bottom of a ship filled with food and alcohol that some merchant plans to sell on the island. Adequate quarters are not something you have had in any form for most of your journey but the promise of a rich marriage have not deterred you from some discomfort. It is finally the time for you to see the island that by the sevens graze you will spend the rest of your life on. What you see once you exit the ship's hull is a rugged stony shore with waves crashing down on them with quite the force. Yet the ship seems to be quite stable and in no danger. Before you lie a small harbour filled with a hand full of poorly build fishing vessels along with a stouter ship that probably belongs to a merchant like the one you are sailing on. The walkways are built of wood and appear to be not the best repaired in the kingdoms. Along the shore are small huts build with thick logs of wood on a walkway entirely build of dirt and the occasional planks that someone might just have forgotten to pick up before winter and decided that bringing them back afterwards was not worth it. The place seems to be quite poor and what you see next is certainly no better. Before you stand an earthen palisade. An honest to the father's earthen palisade with a dirt ditch dug before it. Built with sharpened wooden logs and probably the least impressive of its kind. The front gate is adorned with a carving. A woman suckling a bear on her breast holding it in one arm and an axe in the other. At least the carving is something you would call artistic. Behind it stand it the keep you believed to be at least an equal to Casterly Rock and their like. A wooden keep built of thick logs with smoke coming out of a multitude of chimneys. Barely reaching what you'd be considering a second level in height it is nothing like you imagined it to be.

Once you were greeted by the head of house that was notified of your presence by a guard and taken inside you were not welcomed with a jester telling you that your princess is in another castle. The halls are small and cannot even fit two people walking next to each other. Every room you managed to perceive a glance of is small and holds nought but a bed and trunk. When questioning why the head of house will tell you that those rooms are only used in summer while in winter the family will stay together in the hall so that they need less wood for heating. In a way it makes sense to you but shouldn't a rich house not have to worry about that? Or could it be that their riches are just a lie told to young hopeful idiots like you? It is time that you face the truth while eating your meal with the Mormont's that their wealth is a lie and while the food is hearty it is not the equal to what you could have at home.

The worst part. Once you journey back home and tell your family the truth of your journey and how poor the Mormont's are your father just laughs at you. You are scolded that only because you didn't manage to marry into their family you shouldn't spread lies to make other nobles think better about you. Such deeds are below your family's station.

In exactly that manner the rumour of riches hidden on Bear Isle have managed to persist among the highborn in the south. By the time the next generation of nobles make their travel to Bear Isle none that remembers the truth in the family is around anymore to stop them and the older generation once more will not realise the truth.

Geography:  
As I have mentioned before the island roughly has the shape of a croissant found in the Reach. To be more precise the island has the curve of one with a large bay that travels far in what could be inland. Unlike a croissant the island also does not get thinner to its end. In fact, the island even though curved has a steady thickness to it. One would not have to walk much longer to reach from one side of the island to the bay from any point on the isle. It is however notable that the south-eastern corner of the island has a short piece of land that reaches out to the mainland. It is thought that this was once connected to the Bears Claw that the Glover's hold. The island is located in the middle of the Bay of Ice. I leave it up to you to imagine how warm the temperature around here might be. For the sake of listing the island in its entirety I divide it in the bay area, the outer coast, the woods and lastly the mountains.

For the sake of simplicity, I will start with the inner bay. Most might ask why I decided to divide the coast in two parts. While the entirety of the coast has many of the same features there is a big difference between the two. For one does the inner bay hold most of the islands civilisation and for another has the bay a different lay out in terms of coast and the lands close to shore. The simplest difference between the two is that the waters of the bay are calmer. While still a horror for any sailor untrained in his craft the fast rapids surrounding the isle calm down significantly around there. Not only is the water calmer but there are more beachheads one might land on. While large parts of the coast are still home to the sharp stony rocks that will sink ships in no time the beachheads and calmer waters made it possible for them to at least make shipping docks to safely land. In addition, the much more developed presence of humans in these parts has shaped the nature around them. In contrast to most of the island the forest around the villages are young and will often be cut down and replanted as the wood is needed. While there are few fields around the villages there are many more meadows along the shore compared to the rest of it. It is thought that in these parts the forest was cut down too much and the villages had to move to another beachhead to have enough firewood for winter. All in all, one might consider this part of the island the settled and developed lands. As much as it is still a wild land for any southerner visiting.

As we just talked about the inner bay let us now start with the outer shore. The water around the island does have a quite erratic flow. In addition, the outer shore has many shallow reefs that are dotted with the sharp rock protrusions the main shore shows as well. This leads to the outer coast being a deadly trap to most larger ships. Anything larger than a simple small cog of about 8 metres will find itself sinking in a short time if you don't know the shore. In a way this could be called the northern version of ship breaker bay were it not so desolate and rarely visited by ships. It is also worth mentioning that the natural water flow from the south to the north cools down even more rapidly than before around the island. This probably causes the rapid waterflow but us maesters are still not sure if this is truly the case or just a misplaced brain child. The coast around these parts also has less beachheads where one might make safe landing even without a dock. The upside to this is that even if you do land it is likely that you already are only a few metres away from the forest and gathering wood for fires and repairs is a simple matter. You should however be warned about the bears that one meets on this side of the shore like one would see wolves in the Wolfswood. They do take kindly to visitors would be like saying Maegor the Cruel was a benevolent king.

Now let us talk about the meat of the island. Most of it is after all covered in a dense forest of old bocks with small streams flowing throughout it. These streams feed the islands large population of bears with their preferred diet of large and fat fish. Why the people have not developed around such more inland rivers is an easily answered question. There live more bears than humans on Bear Isle and they don't take kindly to humans taking away their hunting grounds. As such this forest filled with small streams and bears remained largely untouched. Many herbs can be found here that are no longer present in the souths forest and while most of the healers' concoctions have long since found substitutes for their absence the original plants found on the island make such potions more effective. Lastly to complete the image of the forest imagine an earthen floor filled with moss. An unending see of moss that paves the entirety of the wood. And let's not forget the beehives that hang from every second tree and tempt the bears with their sweet nectar.

Lastly there are the high rising mountains that build the spine of the island. These mountains either covered in trees or moss and their peaks ever capped in white snow. Most of the rumours of the island stem from just these supposedly naturally rich mountains. Much like the island Tarth is known as the sapphire island in the south for its position the Bear Isle is known as the sapphire island. Unlike the Tarth's island theirs is called such for the moss green mountains and the never-ending green forests. While it is true that the mountains are green this does not mean that there are sapphires hidden in them and the fact is that these mountains haven't seen in a mineshaft in millennia. Even the archives of us maesters have not documented what was mined in the past thought it shouldn't have been gold or silver or they would still be mined today.

Lesser Lords:  
While I mentioned before that many think that the Mormont's rule the island as the sole noble house with an iron fist this is not true but it has a slither of truth instead. While it is not true that there are no other lords on Bear Isle the number of them is much smaller than the rest of Westeros and even for the North their numbers are extraordinarily small. This is mostly because the yields are to minor to sustain an average lord. Most of these minor lords would usually try to find a lord with better lands to swear allegiance too. As such a form of upper peasantry has formed to step up to the role. We have named them Sygerrik. It means deceiver in the old tongue and fits their role for they are smallfolk that deceives the rest of the world in trying to take the role of the nobility. Still there are not many houses one could mention when talking about the island and even those that I found often have no banner to swing over their soldier's heads in a heated battle. Even in the archives most were only mentioned in passing so you may opt to jump to the next chapter for none noteworthy family will follow.

Let us start by addressing the bear in the room. The Sygerrik make up for what would be seven tens of all the Bear Isles nobility. Their livelihood and existence are much the same all around. Live is harsh in the north and the normal Sygerrik will neither know his letters or his numbers exceptionally well. The rare one among them may know more than the few words you would find in a letter asking for the men to be raised for war or demanding their presence in Mormont Keep but not much else. The position can by the way also be taken by a member of the womenfolk. The position these men and women fill holds neither reward nor prestige. They will work in the fields or in ships much the same as the people that should be under them. What distinguishes them from their compatriots is their wealth. Well as much as they could be called wealthy. They will have more grain and beer in their ladders than their neighbours and take the duty for they would be the only that could take the additional strain without falling to winter. As the richest member of the community takes the duty it is not hereditary and might even change before the particular Sygerrik dies. Should one choose to marry into such a family coming from the south one might rather remain in a southern dungeon. At least those will keep you warm and better fed than the smallfolk of Bear Isle.

House Salm is the only house that has managed to make a settlement further inland work. They do originate from the isle and came back after leaving for a few years as successful merchants that were granted land. Their village is located at the spring of a small river that empties itself into a small lake. The entirety of their village is enclosed by earthen palisade. This includes the spring itself, the few fields and even a wooden grid through which the river leaves the village. The village grows even less crops than their fellow Bear Islanders but makes up with their river. It has long shown itself that the people here manage to live on mostly salmon caught in the river. If you add the hunters that actually return with game such as deer, bear and boar and the wild honey they can find in the forest their livelihood has been secured. Salm's have had an extensive role in making the village work. Not only have they come to the isle with the coin to finance the building of the village but with the grain to make the village not go hungry before they could form fishing parties of sufficient size to scare of bears.

Living the as the most isolate people of Westeros are the members of house Shell's village. It is not known to me whether the house even still exist, but the text assure that they have been around at least at the time of Aegon's Conquest. Supposedly they are the only village one may find on the outer side of the isle. Not only is travel to them hindered by the seas themselves but the fact that even an inland route to their village does not exist would make them to most people independent. At least one would think so if there weren't the raids of Wildlings coming to the isle to hunt for game and sometimes the humans of this village as well. Adding that you have a remote banner that fiercely hates the Wildlings and sends regular ravens to both Mormont's and the Nights Watch. Then again, I am not too sure they are still around as the Mormont's have not been appointed a new Maester for a year now that I might send a raven to.

Lastly, I would mention house Jut. Their claim to prominence on the island is their salt mine. While the island is dependent on grain trade it is thanks to this house that they at least are not dependent on salt as well. The mine and village of the house has since its founding taken the position of salt guardian for the isle. Their village is usually one of the wealthiest and fights of most of the Ironborn raids the island receives simply because their presence helps the islands continued existence. Ironborn like to believe that were it not for this house they would have long since regained the island because the northern settlements would have failed. Because of the importance this house holds for the Mormont's there have been many marriages between them. Funnily enough their keeps are two of the closest you will find on the island.

People:  
Truthfully, I have not managed to gather any references to the population of the island. It is not known to me whether the island has more or less people than say the lordship of the Flint's of Flint's Finger. I however would entertain the notion that the population shouldn't be all that different between the two. While the land is certainly more habitable on Bear Isle their development of it is certainly lacking. If one takes the harsher winters into account that the more northern island receives the notion of this comparison shouldn't be of by too much. In the end it also should make no difference for anyone reading this book because in any case you are unlikely to meet someone of the island if you aren't fighting a war against the North.

The avid reader might have seen that I already used the houses to mention the rough living situation of both of the outliers on Bear Isle. I would not waste the time to repeat myself and will just keep to the only really settled land that lay on the inner bay.

The people have concentrated on the inner bay for many reasons. Most of them have to do with the advantages of the position. Not only is the sea calmer but the mountains that stretch across the island offer protection against some of the stronger cold winds coming from the far north. Still the people haven't spread to far from the shore and almost any village has positioned itself on some beachhead. The ground is not ideal for farming and any animals that one could leave to graze attract bears once they reach a critical amount. Much of the smallfolk has thus chosen to rely on fishing in the bay. While the fish are bountiful their ships leave much to be desired. Most of them will look like a makeshift raft that might crumble anytime. This all lead to a small strip of civilisation along the bay that has had problems expanding inward for millennia. Most of the wealth that comes to their islands is through the traders that chose to buy some more wood and pelts from their island before sailing south after their ships made it to the tip of the Bears Claw. Often most of the coin they would make is spend on any food the merchants might have on their ships. The smallfolk lead one of the hardest lives in the North and can sometimes be pitied for their situation. Such pity is however not something that you should state to their face. They are a proud people and might attack you for insinuating their poor situation. The people because of the cold are rather hotblooded in these parts of the realm.

Army:  
It is a shame what holes the archives of Oldtown have on the Mormont's. Much like the population I lack comprehensive numbers for the Mormont men-at-arms as well. Once again one can only guess at their numbers. Thought I would imagine that theirs are once again about the same as the Flint's of Flint's Finger. Perhaps a bit larger because even though the womenfolk of the Flint's started to take up arms such actions are much more common on Bear Isle. It is easily imaginable that they can take more of their men to war because the women take up the traditionally more male duties in their absence. In addition, the hotblooded temper of the island people is well known and their loyalty unquestionable. Perhaps a thousand would be willing to march. Limited by the ships to ferry them to the mainland however I would not imagine more than 200 to 300 would arrive at the rallying point in time for the army to march south.

Their men are fierce fighters and such is not a mere rumour like most thinks about the house seem to be. Their troupes while underequipped and often reliant on the better equipped allies have often been the last to rout from the field or been part of the line that managed to flip the battle to the Stark's favour. It is common for their men to march simply under the flag of the Mormont bear and have miss matched sets of armour. However, should a campaign last long enough the Mormont soldiers tend to acquire better and matching armour from their enemies. Once they have hit that point, they will make some of the Norths best foot. A wise commander will strife to take them out before that deciding step has been reached to hinder them from reaching their full potential.

Economy:  
All over the text have I have mentioned that their economy is a weak one. The people live in a hostile environment and this has shown itself in their way of live. Often if it is among villages the smallfolk will rather barter than change coin. After all the coin will be needed when once more traders have come with grain, barley, beans and beer. This makes their economy and trade a zero-point economy where wealth neither rises nor falls. But once you add the Ironborn you will notice that any attempt at stockpiling goods and wealth will simply fall into their hands. The islands economy might prosper if the island had sufficient protection from raiders and some merchant vessels of their own. They have after all the normal produce that come from the North in the form of wood and hides that makes families like the Glover's sufficient coin.


	14. House Waterman of Oarmoat

**So ... I wanted to write a somewhat more interesting story with this story as a base ... turns out that I am worse than I thought at that and will not publish something like that anytime soon. Then I became kinda uninteristed in writing for a while and now I just had a bit of a spark of creativety and rewrote what I had for the Umber's. In the end I made the decision to split a bit of the land of for a new house that exist in the world but doesn't have any information about location or anything else really. Anyway the Umber's chapter will be comming in the next 24 hours and have around the same lenght as this one that is as of now now my longest one yet. **

House Waterman is among the more minor banners under house Stark. Its lands are located between the Long Lake and the northern mountains with the Starks to their south and the Umbers taking the lands that surround the Last River to their north. The houses situation between the Stark loyalist in the form of the Umbers and the mountain clans to their west with their lieges directly to their south has often led to tensions. The house has long since been denied any opportunity to grow in land or power between the major powers surrounding it and as such often sought the support of the Bolton's. Their house is one of the few northern families that have taken to supporting the Bolton's not out of fear or marriage but for the opportunity to grow once again. After all there is only so much lands the Bolton's could take directly under their control and rewarding their supporters is always something a rebel lord should have in mind. This has led to many problems for the house over the years. Where they once ruled the entire forest that forms by the Long Lake and lands to the Last River with complete control over the Long Lake the house has been beaten and beaten again. In fact, in the last Bolton rebellion the Starks have relied solely on the mountain clans to suppress and siege out the Waterman's with tremendous success. Since all of the rebellions in order to gain more land have failed the house has shifted its focus since Aegon's Conquest.

It can be safely stated that no northern and only few southern houses have taken the unification of Westeros into one kingdom as a chance to grow like the Waterman's have. While most houses were still in despair over their lost prestige and autonomy or for other reasons unwilling to realise the opportunity the Waterman's grasped onto it. Most lords have only in hindsight realised that with the unification an increase in trade between the kingdoms would occur. Food and wine from the Reach, Vale and Riverland's, wool from the Stormlands and metals from the Westerlands could now more readily be traded between the lands. Lower tarrivs and less Ironborn raiders meant better chances for profits for merchants and even more so for the North that long since lacked a navy to protect their trade. While most of the North was happy to only supply the goods, we know them for today (Wood and Hides) the Waterman's have taken a look to the south and taken a jump in kindling the forming of a new trade in their lands. They have invited and trained their smallfolk in the art of making tiles for roofs, floors and walls. While at first it seemed to be a lost venture that could cost the house even more of their land to pay of their loans by now their tilemakers are renown in the south and are viewed as some of the best in Westeros and Essos. A tile made in their lands signed by their master's mark has become a sign of quality of the highest degree. In fact, nowhere else will you find stricter rules for the making of tiles than in their lands. While the tilemaking has taken away smallfolk from farming the lacking food has been replaced by food bought from the Vale and the Riverland's.

Considering all of this it is no wonder that the house is one of the better-known houses the North has produced. After all many southern halls and roofs need to fulfil their duty in being of high quality, looking the part of a noble and being readily available for building. While this hasn't helped them in completely regaining their standing it has brought the house back into the northern eyes and started to influence the policies of them once more. They still have a long way to go before they might regain the lands they have once owned from the Starks but with the rising prominence and wealth the house has averted their fall to ruin for now.

Aside from their more recent history they position close to the wall has led to many problems in the recent past as well as throughout history. While the Umbers became the prime shield against wildling raids slipping over the wall the Waterman's have been convinced to help in the defences after many battles with Wildling's have taken place in their lands as well. One only has to look at the war against the last king beyond the wall to realise why they have taken to support the Umbers with soldiers more often than not. When one considers all of this it is no wonder that the house has become a firm supporter of the Wall and the Night's Brothers manning it. Their new found wealth often enough buys sacks of barley and barrels of beer for the watch and supplies the occasional man joining of their own free will to protect the North from the thieving rapist to their north.

Their coat of arms is blazoned with a Brown crossed oars on white, between a pair of blue flaunches.

Family Words: _"Born from Water, Reformed in Fire"  
_The words to no surprise where first taken a few years after conquest when their tile making venture became a success and the house was pretty much saved. The first part had been their house words in the past because of the lands they ruled since ancient times. The region between the Long Lake and the Northern mountains hold many streams and rivers that fill the lake. So many that much of the land itself is in parts incredibly wet and can't be farmed. As they once ruled the entire Long Lake alone with both shores in their direct control it is no wonder that their house chose words linking them to water in the past. The second part was added as mentioned above and hold true for two reasons. For one has the venture been opened after the Targerian's forged the realm with the fire of their dragon's and for another because to burn tiles you need large fires lighting the kilns used in the firing. In a way the words talk about their history but at the same time make sure on knows of their perseverance and their willingness to change to survive.

Hold/Keep:  
The castle of Oarmoat is certainly one of the more respectable examples of defensible structures. It is positioned by the end of one of the streams emptying into the Long Lake. Their position allowed them to build a moat around their fortress with a rapid flow that would make it hard for an army to fill it while the defenders still have arrows to harass them with. Furthermore, does the castle make use of this feature by using two walls. The first is barely larger than a man but the battlements allow the soldiers to easily defend their position. The first wall also holds the bare bones first gate that allows access to the outer wall area. The gate is flanked by two small and open towers and only has a draw bridge to its name. It doesn't need more however.

The second and last wall is where the castles true power comes from. As high as any other castle wall it allows the defenders to fire on attackers that managed to take the first wall unimpeded. With four round towers with arrow slids in its corners and the main keep right in front of the first gate the attackers will have a hard time to bring siege equipment close to the walls themselves. The main keep that makes the entrance is a trap to any that do not know that one can't gain access to the rest of it through the entrance. It simply leads through it and allows the defenders a narrow corridor to defend with soldiers, murder holes and a second gate to barricade the inner courtyard.

If one manages to pass through this defence, they will find themself in the inner yard where you will find a small castle garden to the right, a grass field to the left and buildings surrounding the wall. The building to the left is the horse stable and the horses can feed on the grass before the building and the hay in it. The building to the upper left side and the right are the store rooms of the castle. The building to the upper right side is the main hall for the servants with kitchens and tables as well as a second floor for beds. Going around the keep to the left one can find the castles heart tree. Doing the same to the right and one will find a small smithy with room for an arrow maker to follow his craft.

The four towers along the wall hold the armouries, the cells, more sleeping space and additional storage space. The one to the lower right corner from the main gate is a tower that holds storage and armoury. Its closeness to the smith and arrow maker made it an easy choice for both tasks. The one to the lower left serves as the second tower armoury and a sleeping space for men at arms. The one to the top left houses only sleeping space for guards and the smallfolk tending to the kitchen, horse and family itself. The last one houses the cells for prisoners and criminals that will not be executed right in that moment as well as more storage room for food and wood as well as a ravenry for the master.

The main keep is a curious one. The true entrance lies by the heart tree and takes one to the second floor. The second floor holds the main guest hall and sleeping spaces for visitors. The tables around the murder holes tailored to fit around them can be taken away while defending and the sleeping spaces will be refunctioned as armouries and barracks closer to the action. Walking through the room one can take either the stairs up to the right or down to the left. Thought there is another set of stairs to ones right after one arrives to the second floor that leads one down again. Both sets of stairs down lead to storage space as well as arrow slids that allow one to fire on the man in the corridor. The stair leading to the highest-level lead to the private rooms of the lords and his family. With a large common room, a small study with bed for a maester and rooms for the lord and his children. The roof can be reached over two small towers on either corner of the main keep in the inner courtyard. Thought none of them allows for access to any of the inner levels.

It is to note that in recent years the castle has enjoyed a restoration and been completely white washed on both the outside and inside. Not to mention that the inner buildings roofs, floors and walls are adorned by the finest of tiles made in their lordship. As such while by far not the largest the castle is easily defensible until they are starved out and a beauty to look at as well. One might say that the castle comes close to a southern beauty at the moment.

Geography:  
Their lands are divided in three parts. For once there is the mountainous west of their lordship with some of the slowly rising slopes and mountains that turn into mountain range that can easily rival the Vales and Westerlands. Then there is the forested area in the south of their lordship. Lastly, we have to count the rest of the wetland that makes up for a large part of the lordships size. In this part you also have to count the riverbanks and the Long Lake that are the reasons for this topography.

The most important features of the lordship are the Long Lake and the Kingsroad that curses right through the territory. Both of them make it easy for their goods to find a port or traders bringing their tiles south and all over the north. In fact, these two major trade magnets have led to them becoming one of the most densely settles lands of the north in recent years. Trade and the subsequent protection from bandits have led to many small villages forming along both of the trade ways. As such it is not uncommon to find a few villages in a day's ride when following either. An uncommon occurrence for the north one might say.

Let us begin with the forest in the south of the lordship. Once upon a time one might have said that once you enter a large forest on the way to the Wall you have entered the Riverwood under the Waterman's control. Today you will have to wander for a few kilometres still even after entering the Riverwood to make that claim. The name for it however is quite apt for it is a woodland that has more streams and rivers flowing through it than any other in Westeros may count. It is however not like the Neck where the water permanently floods the land and turn it into a marshland. The trees do well in keeping the rivers in their natural beds and prevent flooding. However, the forest already gives you a first insight on how many rivers you will find in the rest of the area. Many of them need no bridge to cross thought. While the Kingsroad has build bridges over any river in its way the same can't be said for the rest of the land but most places have clearly market crossing points where the water is calm and not to deep for a cart to pass over undamaged. While the forest holds fewer wolves than the Wolfswood you will find your fair share still wandering these lands. Game is still aplenty in here and the rivers are rich in fish not to mention the large amounts of snails one will chance upon in there. All in all, it is everything you could imagine a northern forest to be with the addition of too many rivers.

The mountainous lands to the west make up another large part of the land we have entered. Even from the Kingsroad one can already see that the land has a massive mountain range to the west. What most do not notice is that these are but the beginnings of the range that still has to offer many higher peaks towards the west. Many of the streams flowing into the lordship have their spring in these mountains where snow melts and rain accumulates. The more major rivers will have their source more inland and as such are not completely under the Waterman's control. These mountains often lay bare of vegetation on its peaks on first glance if you only look superficial. A closer look will show one the amazing habitat that small mammals as well as unusual small plants have made here. Both of them remain small and do not cover much of the rocks and soil but form a beautiful picture in spring once the plants bloom and the animals show themselves more openly than any other time of the year. These mountains remain entirely untouched by man on the tops thought at the often-forested bottom you might find mines tunnelling into them. Sources in the library mention the mountains being prosperous in copper, tin and other precious metals in these parts. My local correspondence however hasn't gotten back to me weather those are currently being exploited.

Finally, we arrived at the core territory under their control. The wetlands including the plains, hills, rivers and the Long Lake that make up the rest of their lands. Through all their folly the house still retains exclusive rights to exploit the Long Lake. This leads to a disproportioned amount of fishing and trading villages on their side of the lake. It is as such more developed as a hole on their lakeside. The lake is fed by a multitude of rivers flowing from the mountains into it. Most of the snow the mountains receive will melt and either finds it way into the Bay of Ice, the Long Lake or into the Last River. Because of the lakes position and the terrain these lands always have water in abundance. It is not an understatement that some of the lowlands can be nearly flooded once the winter snow melts in these parts. It makes for a beautiful sight to see the wild fields filled with puddles in the morning sun in a summer. Depending on it the sight of frozen puddles is supposed to hold the same charm in the eyes of most people. These lands are littered with villages and hold the smallest jet also most northern town the North has to show for itself.

Lesser Lords:  
Much like the Glover's their lands also hold some clans as noble vassals. Their presence has however been reduced in recent centuries. While once their presence could be seen all over the lordship with various villages all over under their control their tendency to be reliant on one village as a centre and unwillingness to expand into a secondary village has led to the slow redistribution of their former lands. In front of all the Dance of Dragons was used for this when most of the north was focussing on the south. By now the last of their noble clans are found on the edge of their lands to the northern mountains where there is less clay for tiles and a stronger connection to the northern mountain clans backing their brethren. As such many of their clans show only a fleeting loyalty to the house even today for the suppression of their fellow noble clans and make for a weak shield against the mountain clans should they meet on opposite sides of a conflict. In stark contrast to this they can rely completely on their minor nobility in the forest and wetland area of their land for they have received part of these lands or were newly appointed and such new loyalties still last till today.

The last of the clans sworn to the Waterman's count as their strongest the Burrow's, Fall's, Cove's and Rasp's that all have strong connections to major clans found in the mountains. It is common for these clans to focus more on crops and animal rearing than the rest of the lordship because their overproduction is used as a mean of gaining support from their fellow clans. Through selling it at a low prize they gain their support in Winterfell where the clans are beloved for their unwavering loyalty to the wolves. This political support has been instrumental in keeping their existence secured from another wave of expulsion the clans faced in the rest of the lordship. They live in constant fear of another problem making the Stark's focus on the south and ignore the plight of the lesser nobility of another lordship. Even more so when it has previously shown itself as a method to strengthen the North by increased trade from the lordship after their culling. It is no understatement to say that these lords are more loyal to their fellow clans than the Waterman's and if they thought they could get away with it would secede from the lordship.

One of the major lords under the house are the Blackwood's. They are not related to the house found in the Riverland's in any way but name. They are located at the mouth of the Long Lake where the White Knife begins with the Riverwood in their back. Their position made their house into the first port many merchants visit when entering the Long lake and has made them more important in recent years. Above all else has the port become a place where traders stock up on wood to sell to the villages they buy their tiles from. The firing of their kilns means that a constant large amount of wood is needed that can hardly be produced only through local means without the danger of low supplies of normal firewood for the cold. As such their port is always visited by traders that will redistribute their wood along the shore. This has also led to an extra commandment by the Waterman's for their house. Southern traders are always pleased to find a sept in the far north and the one under the Blackwood's is one of the most visited in the far north because it is one of the rare ones they might find this far north. This has been ordered by the Waterman's to help trade, for the south is pleased when they see something, they are familiar with.

Among the most recently raised houses are the Tier's that are on the way to prominence in the lordship. Formerly a lower noble house located in Bolton lands this branch has already eclipsed their ancestors. They received a village that lay where the Kingsroad crossed the last major tributary of the Long Lake. As such it has access to both the Kingsroad and Long Lake trade while at the same time becoming the gate to the Waterman's land for Umber smallfolk and wildling raiders. This position after years of development has become the most northern town and even received a town charter by the Stark's to ensure lower taxes for more development. The town has by now received a solid wooden wall and the bridge of the Kingsroad has been fortified for easier protection. The Tier's have long since broken of the connection to their brethren in Bolton land and are unlike their liege lords more opposed to working with the Bolton's. However much this holds true however the house is to recently raised to truly speak out against their lords for this. However, their power gives them the right to command respect and words with the Waterman's.

Rivals for the control of the lordship have always been the Elsas's located in the Riverwood. While loyal in any war their power has often rivalled the Waterman's and made them a possible replacement for them. As such when the lordship was reformed steps were taken to lower their power. Aside from their position that gave them less influence in the new tile trade the other lords of the Riverwood were strengthened with favourable contracts for wood. The house has since fallen to a middling influence in the lordship. In recent years the house has started a comeback with renewed connections to the clans. Supporting their food trade and convincing them to open mines to excavate metals that are then refined by them has allowed them new connections and wealth. They have the potential to once again rival the Waterman's with their south-westerns located power block and their closer connection to the Stark's and Mountain Clan's. Aside from the political position of the family their house is also one of the few that have snail farms. While snails are often eaten in the Riverwood, Neck, Riverland's, Rainwood and the Arbour only few of these lands hold snails like others would cows and sheep. It is one of the largest exports the house has to its name.

People:  
The people of the lordship have taken up very different live stiles depending on where they live them. This is especially worth mentioning considering that in the North and south you will often find a people living on the same amount of land to be quite homogenous in the way of live. This can't be said here as each region has taken to develop a bit differently. The one thing connecting them all in this lordship however is fishing. An unusual stile at that. A local Sweetwater fish will be caught by the people with their bare hands when the fish takes to biting the hand of a person holding a mouse under water. The fisher will then heft the catch out of water with his hand down its mouth. Traders having witnessed this form of catching fish described seeing it as similarly disgusting as smelling Kings Landing the first time.

The people of the Riverwood have taken up many more professions around woodworking and hunting than their brethren. With the Riverwood in their back cold winters are often a second thought to them compared to the food shortages. Yet even that can be often averted in shorter winters by hunting and to an extend the still operational snail farming. With the snails as a local produce and delicacy their neighbours often mock them and compare them to the people of the Neck while ignoring the other regions where snails are eaten. The people of the wood also often have closer connections with more inland laying lordships as well as those of the mountains. The people are also quite proud that their forest hold significantly less wolves than the Wolfswood. Their claim has always been that their hunters united the people of the forest and had the wolves hunted down before they became impossible to manage.

The people of the mountains are to be considered like those living in the rest of the northern mountains. Often, they are larger of body and them living higher than most people smallfolk made them gain more stamina in the lowlands with thicker air. All of the men will grow a beard and have their hair grow long enough to reach their shoulder. While many compare them to barbarians even more so than the rest of the north the mountainfolk in this lordship at least they are renowned for their impeccable beards and the care they put in them should they have the oils for it. Sometimes one might even meet a bearded priest from Norvos in these villages exchanging grooming techniques with the locals. All of this aside have the people of this region in recent years taken more to farming and herding animals while their past mayor exploits of mining have taking the second seat compared to before.

Lastly there are the wet man that live in the plains, along the rivers and on the long lake. Their group is the largest of them at the moment. More often than not these people have at least a modest stash of coin hidden away and a full ladder. With the rise of tiling most of the villages in the region have at least one kiln for firing in their village. In addition to this their lands while occasionally under the water and not farmable in parts because of this are fertile enough to support the population in summer. In winter the food bought from the south often is sufficient to bring the people safely out of the winter. If it does not the smallfolk tent to take up hunting. At least the old do.

Army:  
For all its regained wealth and power the house can still not field many men. Perhaps a thousand two hundred they could lift and field when the need comes. One might ask why they couldn't marshal more soldiers when in all the previous categories they seemed powerful? The reason is quite simple. For all the power they regained they lost support of many of their vassals as well. While the newly appointed lords and the Riverwood lords that benefit from the trade have become loyal the other lords of the Riverwood and the remaining mountain clans that could marshal another 600 to 800 often come with only honorary forces. As such the lordship cannot show its entire strength unless the lesser lords can find a goal to unite under. One such occasion was when the lordship fought against a king beyond the wall to give an example. As such it is a fair assumption to make that the soldiers of this lordship never arrive in full number.

While the lordship cannot field all its numbers its equipment and composition show promise and cannot be ignored by enemy commanders. Capable of fielding nearly half their numbers in horse armoured by Dustin steel they might not command the largest horse in Westeros but for a house their size the numbers are certainly still impressive. While none of them are knights even today the south remembers the strength, the northern cavalry has shown in past wars. A commander that ignores such a force is certainly set up to lose. In addition, while not impressively drilled or trained their levies are well armoured and their supply train of solid structure.

Something often forgotten about the house is its merchant navy. While not equipped for war and still barely holding the numbers to be remembered it still exist and could be reequipped for war should the need become apparent. While the house does rely on private traders they have build up and maintained this fleet when they weren't sure traders would come to them. Today these ships are along with the Manderly fleet are the largest noble owned fleets of the north. While even combined with the Manderly's this would not match what most kingdoms have for a fleet they could secure the White Knife from any incursions and perhaps even the Bite if their commanders are capable.

Economy:  
The economy of the lordship has been blooming for a while now and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. There are several reasons for this trend. One of the lesser important reasons is the safety of the trading routes their lordship offers. Trading along the White Knife is safe for any that wish to do so thanks to the Manderly's and their ships resting in White Harbour. Where the west has to deal with Ironborn raiders and the east with pirates owning the Stepping Stones hindering trade the northern trade along the White Knife is as safe as it gets. Even more so if your ships only travel to Bravos and the Vale of Arryn afterwards and take the long way around the sisters to do so. Where taking your wares further south does yield additional profits it also holds more risk of pirates. Yet as all know most still take this risk. Nevertheless, this is a boon to their trading routes. Another reason for their good trade is their main good. Their tiles will still be bought in Essos even if the cities are at war for the simple sake of showing their compatriots their wealth. While the South will buy them in peacetimes that happen more frequent since the conquest. One of the biggest reasons however for the trade flowing to their lands is the fact that the people buy a lot from merchants as well. Trading their wood, metals and wood for the food, cloth and alcohol the merchants bring with them. Any tour for a merchant there will yield a secure profit and as such many smaller merchants like to trade there.

As one could guess from the mention above the main trade routes for the lordship are the shipping to the Vale of Arryn and Bravos as well as the Kingsroad and other such roads for inland trade to the Umbers and Wall as well as the northern mountains to their west.

All in all, the house is to be considered of slightly above moderate wealthy compared to southern lords.


	15. House Umber of Last Hearth

**As promised the Umber chapter has arrived. Next house should be the Karstark's but till you get them I need some more time once more because of real life stuff.**

The Umber's of Last Hearth can trace back their bloodline to the Age of Heroes. Where the Stark's supposedly came from the south from the seed of Garth Greenhand the Umber's have ruled their lands even before the Stark's moved north to carve themselves a kingdom out of the vast unclaimed lands. It is claimed and believable that among the First Men that came the Umber's were already the chieftains of a small tribe that chose to travel far to the North to develop in peace away from competitors. As such it is no wonder that the Umber's were already established and had their lands firmly under control when the Stark's first arrived. Truthfully speaking it is a wonder to me that the Umber's haven't vassalized the Stark's when they arrived in the North. After all they settled the prime lands for expansion from the point of view of the Umber lands not to mention that the Umber's at the time should have been stronger in their presence, wealth and manpower than the Stark's. Either way the Umber's have ruled as first men kings for several centuries even after the Stark's came to the north. It is probable that the Umber's had a rivalry with the Bolton's and their Red Kings in this timeframe. This could be the reason for the peace between the Umber's and Stark's in the early years and probably gave the Kings of Winter the time to consolidate their rule and conquer lands to the west, south and south-east. In any case they were after centuries of peace between the houses subjugated over several wars and rebellions and became one of the principle banners to the Stark's and can claim loyalty to the Stark's more than most others.

The lands under their control have mostly been the same over the centuries. From the Lonely Hills in the south to the border of the New Gift in the North their lands encompass vast swaths of land. Years ago, their lands reached to Brandon's Gift but with the creation of the New Gift much land was lost to their house. Together with the Mountain clans they were the only lordship affected by the gift and while the house still holds the Nights Watch in high regard their hate for the Targaryen's started because of this slight. By now it may never be a possibility for their house to become truly loyal to the Dragon Kings for this massive blunder on their part. In addition to this loss over the years the Umber's have first lost the lands around the Long Lake while they were being subjugated but have since regained much of their lands from the Waterman's.

When one from the south thinks of unwashed barbarians when thinking about the North their mental image most probably would fit to the Umber's. Their house regularly produces men and women that most consider to be giants. Their beards and hair are unkempt and wild. Their will drink and shout and brawl without a second thought and often ignore proper etiquette either because of their drunkenness or their unwillingness to partake in it. Their fighters are more brawlers than soldiers not to mention that it is often said that the Umber's still secretly practice the right of the first night. Thought the Umber's would most probably kill me for it is a fair assessment to say that they are closer to the mountain clans of the Vale and the wildlings than one should admit to them. In fact, one could go so far as to claim that if they still stole their wives and lived a nomadic live perhaps north of the wall they would fit right in with the rest of the wildlings.

As for why I will from now on never be able to set foot in Umber lands without fear of being made a head shorter. The hate the Umber's have for the wildlings is legendary. Their house will be the first to be raided by any incursions south of the wall and they have often lost family members from this. Not to mention the loss of life for their smallfolk. Any linking between them and wildlings can be cause for broken bones should one make the claim. When the Wall is undermanned, they will be called upon to help. Whether one believes in the Long Night or not the Wall was built with the explicit support of the Umber's by Brandon the Builder even if they probably lost some land in the creation of the gift to support its existence. This could have also been the reason for the prolonged peace between Stark's and Umber's for several centuries.

In any case all in all the Umber's can be seen as one of the major houses of the north and have a firm claim to remain as such. In addition to this their faith in the Old Gods is firm and while not yet fanatic one will find not a sept in their lands and should not expect any of the smallfolk to look at the New Gods in any favourable light. Their lands are among the largest and their army among the fiercest. All in all, this house should be remembered when speaking about the north.

Their coat of arms as a giant, brown haired and wearing a skin, with broken silver chains, on flame red.

Family Words: _"Nothing can Hold us"  
_Together with their sigil their words form the picture of a rebellious house that will fight for their own good. While in the past this might have been true the words by now have taken another meaning for the family. For even with the constant danger of wildlings in their back and an ever-looming winter the house will always be ready to send their people to the help of their liege lords. Even if the situation is bleak they will stand by their side and nothing can stop them from doing so. Another take on it is their unruliness as a vassal lord from my point of view. Then again, I am only a maester and not the lord Stark that has to deal with them.

Hold/Keep:  
The houses seat of power is called Last Hearth or sometimes The Last Hearth. It is located north of the Last River and east of the Kingsroad inside the northern Pinewood forest that predominated the centre of their territory. It is the closest major castle to the wall aside from the castles lining the walls themselves. While there are still some minor castles north of the Last Hearth those are made of wood and small in size and more often than not only encompass a tower keep.

Let us take a short discourse to discuss the castles chosen name of Last Hearth for it tells us much about the lords that would choose to name their castle as such. The hearth or as the south now calls it as simply the fireplace has held much meaning to the first men. One could imagine that with the arrival of the Andals the south has lost the meaning the place once held to their people. The same has not happened in the North. The first men oath of fealty still contains the mention of the hearth as a central part of the vows. It couldn't be called a wonder after all the hearth has always been the central piece of a castle for the first men. The hearth was were fire forced the cold away. It was were the bread was made to feed the castles inhabitants and later in history the bread only for the lord's family. Here met the lord his guest when they first arrived and offered bread and salt to grand guest rights to them. The fact that the lords would claim that their castle is the last of such paints a picture that tells that they did not expect anyone to build their keeps further north than they did. It could be possible that once the lands of always winter stretched further south. Even today the lands directly behind the wall are covered in snow even in the longest summers. It could be possible that this warmer climate is only because of the wall stopping the snow from remaining in summer even further south than the wall itself. When one thinks on it as such it would make sense that even a house of hardy northerners thought it impossible to build further north and support a castle.

The castle itself is at a first glance a rather impressive structure. Tall stone walls form a large rectangle with slightly lifted protruding square towers. Only one entrance leads into the castle yard. Here after the first gate one will meet the common quarters deemed important enough to be granted protection through a wall. One will find the smith, head hunter, bowyer, the brewery as well as the guards and staples with an inn and unique to their castle a brothel in this part of the castle. Divided and slightly elevated from them is the castle itself. The structure is a perhaps one of the biggest in the north. Yet it can only lay that claim because of its singular build. Many castles tend to have multiple structures form into the main compound. Compared to this the Umbers main keep is one solid block that contains many storage rooms in the middle were the sunlight would never reach. These rooms hold the massive amounts of firewood and food that they store for the winter.

While it all looks impressive the castle has often been breached by wildling raiders. Often the castle security had been underwhelming and as such raids managed to make off with a lady of the house or a servant from the lower quarters. I have no doubt that in wartimes the men-at-arms are better prepared to defend the castle from large armies and will take their fair share of lives but raids and fast attacks with retreats have been shown to be a weakness of the castle.

Geography:  
The lands under their house have many facets. For one there are the Lonely Hills in the south as well as the mountain ranges of the northern mountains to the north-west of their lands. A large part of the Last River and with it its valleys flow through the centre of their lordship. Not to mention the tributary of the White Knife called the Lone Blade that begins in the Lonely Hills and the coast of the Long lake that while not settled on their side still remains a natural border. Then you have the Pinewood that lay in the centre of the lordship and stretches to both sides of the Last River. Not to mention the vast sloping plains with sharp cold winds always present. They encompass all that is not mountain, river or forest in these lands. Even then there still remains the coast of the Bay of Seals to the north-east of their lands. While only a fraction compared to the lands the Karstark's and Greycliff's hold on it one should not forget it.

Let us begin with the Lonely Hills. Thought calling them hills is like saying that Aegon wasn't a conqueror. While not nearly as high as the northern mountains their peaks can in parts match any found in the Westerlands. The only reason they could be names Hills is probably because they appear to be nothing compared to the northern mountains. These lands hold some of the few remaining active volcanoes in Westeros. Together with some of the peaks in the Westerlands, Stormlands and Dorne as well as Dragonstone and perhaps Skagos this region is one of the most volcanically active in Westeros. Every few years one of the peaks will spew forth fire and ash. Mostly ash to be honest. All of the eruptions remain relatively small and rain ash only in the area of the Lonely Hills themself but every few centuries one volcano will erupt with enough force that ash can still fall in lands south of Winterfell and all the way to the Bay of Seals. Perhaps because of all of the volcanic activity the region is rich in all manner of metals. From cobalt, bronze, iron, zin, lead to mercury, nickel, bismuth, chrome and tungsten all can be found in at least medium quantities in this region. In truth were it not for the missing silver and gold veins this region could have all the major metals one could ever need. It should come as no surprise that this region has always been a highly sought-after region and many a Bolton rebellion was fought to gain these lands for themselves or at least grant them to someone more inclined to own them loyalty.  
**(I just can't believe that only Dragonstone and Old Valyria have/had active volcanoes so I added a few areas in Westeros that still have some activity for a bit of realism and creativity. I mean the continent of Westeros is supposed to be somewhere between Europe and South America in size and only has one active mentioned volcano right now.)**

The mountains in the north-west of their lands couldn't be more different compared to the Lonely Hills. Their peaks stretch to the last major tributary of the Last River as well as the edge of the Pinewood and are, even though only the beginning of the northern mountains, already higher than those of the Lonely Hills. These are however no longer volcanically active and are seldomly mined for any resources. Who would mine here when the lands to the south hold more riches and larger varieties of ores? Their slopes are however topped by rich green grass and a favourite for wild animals as well as domesticated ones. In old ledgers one might find mentions about coal mines that once has been present in the region. Thought today those have long since been abandoned. After all, with the vast amounts of wood the North possesses it has become easier to locally burn wood to produce coal for the smithies than mining and transporting it along the Last River to the other lordships.

As for the Pinewood. Once more a forest that can nearly match any of the three largest southern forests in size (Kingswood, Rainwood and Clawwood). It is another source of coin for the Umber's. Its wood is predominantly bought by essosy merchants and of those mostly by those coming from Bravos. Much of that wood finds its way in becoming part of their fleets or is made into furniture. As many a forest in the north its riches come from their natural resources. The pinewood and oakwood as well as the hides and meats of the wolves, dears, boars and other plentiful game found in it have made many men richer. The plains that sometimes break this ancient forest are fertile and shielded from the harsh cold winds and give enough corn to sustain the people living in it. Still many parts of the forest have not been wandered by humans in centuries and some were never the site of human settlements. In those parts the trees are high and the undergrowth overwhelmingly thick. These lands are as wild as any beyond the Wall even if they remain small and somewhat contained.

Now for the river valleys that encompass the Lone Blade and the Last River as well as its tributaries. I have already mentioned that while their border lies on the Long Lake, they don't have any right to it and as such will not mention it here again. Both of the rivers are easily shippable and bring much of the goods into and out of the lordship. While the Lone Blade is coloured in a murky grey the water it carries makes the earth more fertile. Many believe this to be because of the volcanic ash it carries and this might just be the truth of it. In any case the lands around it are easy to farm. The Last river meanwhile has a clean blue colour and while not as fertile still remains prime farming land. Mostly around the more forested and mountainous areas it passes but arguably still in the plains that follow. These riverways are in any case the lifelines of the lordship bringing most of the goods and people around after all the Umber's have never had the sense to expand their road network into more that the Kingsroad and a few better established and build up roads leading to the east.

One of these roads brings one to the Bay of Seals and its major harbour village along the strip of coast under their control. It is easy to find the beginning of Umber land when traveling with a ship. Once the coast makes a nearly right angle and the ship travels only north from there it is the beginning of Umber coastland. The coast is still mostly empty from people but beaches are filled with an enormous amount of seals instead. The name of the Bay wasn't chosen without reason after all. But even aside from seals the coast has much to offer to any that find themselves on them. From gentle cliffs to low beaches filled with stones or sand both coarse and smooth and simple grasslands reaching to the water. This all can be found mostly undisturbed in this region. Aside from the beauty of the coast its waters hold much more than just seals. With one of the largest amounts of cloisters and clams along the eastern shore and plenty of fish that is hunted by the seals these lands are rich in life. Even wales can be found here hunting the seals.

Lastly one can find the plains hounded by freezing winds to the north and east of the Pinewood as well as the area between the Pinewood and the Lonely Hills. Thought the last-mentioned part between the two has already significantly less harsh winds that already are a bit warmer. These plains are often only covered in grass and are filled with gentle slopes and slow flowing small stream leading to both the Bay of Seals and the Last River. Much like the mountains in the north-west this land is more often than not preferred by shepherds and cow herders for their animals. Most of the area north of the Pinewood is however settled as thinly as the New Gift is today. The people that once lived there chose instead to move further south. As such these lands are mostly empty. The southern plains meanwhile hold many more people and the east is settled simply for the sake of seal hunting and the riches the coast can offer.

Lesser Lords:  
It is interesting how the lords in the various parts of the territory have much more different views on things and differentiate themselves from each other than in other lordships. For example, the lands of the north-western mountains are only settled by noble clans with an intense hate for the wildlings while those lords of the Lonely Hills are much wealthier than the rest of the lordship but in turn hate the Bolton's more than even wildlings. Even then there are the lords of the Pinewood that are all masterly houses with a focus on wildlings and trade while the lords of the coast wish for a proper navy and those of the plain wish to see the Nights Watch relinquish the New Gift to once more resettle their old lands.

House Clubber is the predominant power among the houses to the coast and has long since wished for the existence of a proper navy. The house employs several merchants as well as fishing ships but lacks the funding to support several real war galleys. Those would be needed to stop the incursions that have been started in which wildlings take a ship to pass the Wall and land on their coast. In any case the house is one of the largest producers of seal skins in Westeros. If one buys a seal skin the chances are good that it came from their lands and underwent its production the settlements of the Clubber's. The house also trades in the fat and meat of the animals. A local food for many is found in the riches of the sea and the house has certainly used the freedom they had from enemy fleets to build up a substantial force of ships unsuited for war but useful to exploit their bay.

Clan Anvil is the strongest of the local clans. Unlike many other clans that live outside the northern mountains their clan has managed to grasp the principle of building and managing several villages in their lands. It is as such no wonder why they are stronger than many of their fellow clans mentioned before. While the houses name would let one think that they are predominantly busy as miners and smiths this may only have been the truth in the past. Today like most of the people living in the mountains they see their wealth come from animals. A large number of cattle, sheep and goat graze their lands and produce their wealth with both cloth, cheese and smoked meat as their premier produce. The clan is known to be one of the few that actively sends out scouts into the Gift to search for wildling incursions. Some even speak about the believe that they send their men to the other side of the Wall for the simple sake of killing wildlings.

In the Lonely Hills by the main spring of the Last Blade lies the castle of house Asher. Much like their fellow lords of the Lonely Hills their main produce is in their metals. Their house is among the largest producers of mercury and tungsten and even had a dragon glass mine in the past. Unfortunately, their castle was built close to an active volcano and while the castle didn't have to deal with lava or similar the ash that fell in the vicinity has killed many of the castles inhabitants either through breathing it in or by collapsing the roof on them with its weight. All things considered however the house has often married with the Umbers because of their wealth and position as most northern of the Lonely Hills nobility. They have a firm grasp on the lord's interest and often enough led the defence against Bolton incursions. Their house is one of perseverance and a certain cunning.

All the lands directly north of the Pinewood belong to the last remaining noble house that refused to resettle further east or south like others had done. The Umber's of Sheepfield a branch to the Umber's existing for centuries now but certainly still as stubborn as their original family. Their lands hold several villages where each man is armed and ready to defend their village. By now wildlings tend to move around their villages and strike softer targets even further south. This branch remains quite close to their original family and still send their children to foster at Last Hearth. Most even in the North are sure that the only thing those children learn there is how to be stubborn and how to hold their liquor. Well less hold their liquor and more how to drink it till they pass out.

People:  
All people living under the Umber's are as hardy and fierce as their liege lords. The men grow large and tend to have a full beard by the age of 20 at least. It is not unusual to see them missing a finger or two or parts of their ears. If one could look at their feet, they probably would miss a toe or two as well. The cold in these parts in long winters can easily take of a bit of your body with frostbite. This also makes the people in these parts proficient in the safe amputation of body parts. A skill any army envies when the camp helpers have not enough trained healers for sure. The locals also prefer their woman with more meat on their hips than those of any other lordship. They claim that those will life by the end of winter and give birth to healthier children not to mention can claim wealth through all the food they must have eaten to gain it.

The Lonely Hills alone house about 40.000 miners and their families as well as farmers in their lands. Their land is the most heavily populated in the lordship. One can easily identify these men should they be marshalled for war by their bend neck. Because most mining shafts in the Lonely Hills are quite flat the miners work by lying on their side and over the years this causes their weird neck posture. This is similar to many miners of the Westerlands were the mines are similar in structure because of the thin but wide veins. Often times you will find children of both genders starting with their eight-name day help in the mine by pulling filled minecarts bound at their ankle out of the shallow shafts to the wider once were a horse will often be used to help in the excavation.

The people of the mountains will be mentioned in the chapter about the lords of the northern mountains in detail. In this part I would only mention that they differentiate themselves from their brethren through the many river valleys that flow into the Last River. While they often are animal herders these fertile wind-shielded regions make them both wealthier and give them more security in winter. As such the people here life easier than their fellow mountain dwellers.

The people of the forest and plains as well as the coastal dwellers don't differentiate much in their behaviours. The hole of them like nothing more than drinking and merry making, taking whores to bed and brawling in between. These people are often unwashed because all water is cold in the region and warming it cost wood and makes more work for them. Their beards are unkempt and they all miss at least one of their extremities such as ears, fingers or toes from the harsh climate. They are what we of the south think when mentioning the northern barbarians. That the rest of the north is only slightly better matters not much for the fact remains that a region that breeds such men and prays to trees is still all the same at its core. In any case one will be well advised in not insulting these men face to face for they have an immense pride and will, admittedly successfully, shut the offenders up with their fist. Most of them have not even a shred of remorse for it and will attack even lords for such transgressions even if it cost them a hand or their head.

Army:  
The Umber's can call upon one of the norths largest forces. With the potential to call upon 5000 men-at-arms from their lands they firmly belong to the major houses of the north along with the Ryswell's, Dustin's, Karstark's, Manderly's and Bolton's not to mention the Stark's. More often than not they will not marshal all of their soldiers nowadays because of the thread of wildlings. In ages past when the Wall was better manned, they could call upon and did call upon all their full force when war came. With the Wall this understaffed they tend to leave behind around 2000 of their soldiers to guard their lands from their incursions. This situation has made many a lord Umber quite furious and lead them to become even more aggressive with the men they do take with them for war. It is not an understatement that in recent centuries they tactics devolved into a charge and battle until they either are dead or won. At least if they don't have a higher-ranking commander above them.

Now onto the meat of this section the composition and equipment of their soldiers. Because of the mines in the Lonely Hills and the expert metal smiths living in the region the lords have the option to buy armour and blades in qualities that rival any of the options given to the lords of the Westerlands. Unlike them they tend however not to buy too much of the high-quality stuff. While they are not poor, they tend to prefer to equip their people with gambesons and a simple chainmail shirt. No question because the cold climate would make armour that is easy to get cold a hindrance to their people. While this is reasonable for fighting in the North such lack of better armour even when marching south leaves room for improvement. Then again, the weapons they do buy from their smiths are of good quality and sufficiently bought to equip even their untrained peasant conscripts with quality steel. More often than not the simple untrained people of the army stick to simple spears with a large shield made of wood. The other men will wield anything from swords to axes and maces. Thought from battles long passed they tend to bring many more mace wielders and axemen than swordsmen. Even their horse is equipped with good armour and weapons.

They can field fewer horse than one might expect them to. While around a thousand five hundred are atop horses they bring only a small part of those south. The larger part of their horse will remain north to be a fast response to wildling raids because of a command given by the Starks ages ago.

Their people however do have a fierce temper and are renown to field berserkers in their midst. Those men are a hindrance and fight with a temper unlike those of the south. They tend to remain longer in battle before they can be routed and even then, are fast to recover and reform to charge once again. A wise commander will not leave his flank open to a retreating Umber army for they will surely return to the battle before it is over and a charge in an unprotected flank. Their forces have lost many a king the battle against the northern armies.

Economy:  
While the Umber's don't encourage a blooming merchant population in their lands and with taxes on the profession even hindering the forming of a proper one, they welcome many traders in their lands with low tariffs and excellent produce. Most traders making their way up the White Knife will gladly take a detour along the Lone Blade for all kinds of metal excavated in the Lonely Hills. In addition, the trade along the Last River is a favourite for merchants of Bravos for the wood and hides they can gain. The trade routes are even quite safe this far in the north because there are not many raiders and pirates in the region. Even if there are the bravosi tend to protect the trade and wipe them out fast enough. All in all, the region could become vastly wealthier with the forming of an efficient stand of merchants but even now they are above the average southern lord in terms of prosperity. This is however only this easy for them because of the wealth hidden in the Lonely Hills in addition to their vast forests and the desire of wood from Bravos.


	16. House Karstark of Karhold

**Well well well ... I am back with the next house. I must confess ... I took longer after getting a bit to into reading Harry Potter fics. In addition learning ... at least i am now a surveying technician. At least I think that that is the english name for my job. Anyway I spend my time not writing. I am actually still a bit to much into reading at the moment but I believe that I will be somewhat motivated to finally get to the Bolton's soon.**

House Karstark is the strongest surviving branch family of the Stark's to this date. They are among the Norths strongest houses and have remained closely tied by blood to the Stark's through several marriages over the centuries. In addition, they are among the newer houses in the North. Formed only about a thousand years ago by a younger member of house Stark by the name of Karlon. As such their founding can be dated back to roughly 700 before Aegon's Conquest. Their seat of power was built around the date of their founding and was used to solidify their control over the region and its smallfolk as well as preventing another rebellion in the area by the presence of a strong loyal house. Their founding had the intended effect and has hindered the Bolton's from forming another rebellion for centuries by encasing them in between the Karstark's, Umber's and Manderly's and their influence on the surrounding minor lords. Between those three loyal families another rebellion from the Bolton's remains only a dream to the most conservative Bolton lords.

As mentioned above their house was formed after a rebellion by granting Karlon Stark lands from the defeated lords. Among the lands they received were all the Bolton holding on the northern side of the Last River, the entirety of the lands of the Flint's of Breakstone Hill whose line went extinct in the rebellion and nearly half the land that house Greycliff once owned. Their lands as such have the Last River as a border. Afterwards their lands meet in the plains to the Umber's and follow it to the Bay of Seals. In the place were the land border between the Bay of Seals and the small Woodriver, named such for the abundance of branches and trees it carries to the see, is the thinnest their border turns south along hills and dells to the spring of the Woodriver and follows it to its mouth. From there the southern coast along the Shivering Sea forms their remaining border. Considering that their lands were formed from rebel lands and that two of the contributors still remain it is no wonder that their relation to both the Greycliff's and Bolton's remains cold at the best of times. Though the Bolton's have tried to warm the relationship since Aegon's conquest the Greycliff's remain antagonistic towards them. Surprisingly the remaining branches of house Flint's have a good relationship to the Karstark's even though they destroyed one of their strongest branch families. I would attribute this to both marriages between the Karstark's and Flint's over the centuries and the fact that the Flint's as a whole were ashamed by their brethren's betrayal of their liege.

The forming of their name is actually a funny story. While today we call them Karstark's once upon a time they were simply known as the Starks of Karl's Hold. Over centuries their castle name changed to Karhold and the family name did the same and added the Kar in front of Stark. This was actually a process that took over several centuries and only really solidified when Aegon had requested ledgers about the Kingdom's and its lordly houses to be sent to King's Landing. In those ledgers the house was first mentioned as house Karstark of Karhold in an official document that was copied and stored by us maesters. Apparently, they have decided to officially change their houses name on the papers to better differentiate their houses for those of the south.

Something of note about the house is their colouring. While the classical Starks features of brown hair and long faces can still be found in them, they have developed distinct features of their own. More often than not they will have blue eyes instead of the grey orbs the Stark's show. In addition, they often grow larger and let their beards grow longer than a Stark would be comfortable with. Yet still the familiar resemblance between the two is a given and with a bit of luck a Karstark may yet be born with features that make them seam like a trueborn Stark instead.

Their sigil shows a white sunburst on a black background.

Family Words: _"The Sun of Winter"  
_Like most things about the Karstark's their words originate from their founder Karlon Stark. While one upon a time the words were the Son of Winter to remind his house from what blood the family stems it has changed over the years. Yet it has proven itself that the Karstark's did not forget their ancestry in the Kings of Winter even with the changed words. But how did the change from son to sun happen. Today many only know that Karlon won against the rebels and was awarded lands. What most don't know was that the sun gifted him the victory. The sun shone so bright that day that the rebels has been unable to see his cavalry charge into their backs because the sunshine blinded them. This has been the origin of their sigil of a sunburst instead of a direwolf. The over centuries much like their holds name and house name the words changed. The words son and sun are rather similar and when they were asked after centuries why their sigil was a sun and not a direwolf the present lord Karstark answered because they were the Sun of Winter. Even their fellow northern lords didn't remember the story and the lords afterwards have continued to simply use the words sun instead of son. Let it be said that the puzzle of their words has been lifted and that not only the north remembers but the maesters do as well.

Hold/Keep:  
Karhold is the ancestral seat of house Karstark and finally stands complete today. A few centuries ago, one couldn't write such a statement about the castle. Before then the lords still did many things to change and expand the castle. They pushed out the walls further, added another tower, portcullises were encased in steel, cellars expanded, a firm bridge took over for a rotting structure that none should have dared to cross. One lord even added another floor to the entire structure several hundred years before the conquest. Today the castle stands as one of the norths strongest castles and for a good reason too. Sitting on top of two cliffs connected by a bridge and only attackable from one side the castle makes for a formidable opponent for attackers. Between the cliffs flows a tributary of the Woodwater and the lands around the cliffs quickly turn to forest and plains while all around remaining rather flat compared to the two cliffs.

Before we start with the castle lets talk about the surrounding lands. By the foot of the eastern cliff you will find the docks of the village build by the castle. Surprisingly it's called Karlton. Following the dirt road up a bit you will find yourself by the village gates. While not to large with only a bit over a few thousand people the village to the south of the castle is surrounded by a wooden wall that connects to the stone castle walls. It is of note that the castle entrance is not inside the village's wooden walls. As the castle was build on top of the rocky cliffs the village is rising higher with the ground. So much so that one can easily view the houses closest to the castle from outside the walls. In all honesty the walls are probably more aesthetic than protective from what I can perceive about warcraft. Take to note that only from the villages side one can actually come close to the castle. From any other direction but the path passing along the village walls one would face stone cliffs to step for a army to attack from. As such between the village and the cliffs any army will be bottle necked and depending on if the village is taken or not battered by arrows from their walls on the way to the castle gates. The surrounding lands are used by woodcutters and farmers to follow their craft while the docks allow for easy trade with some fishers following their craft along the rivers from here as well. The villages position has actually hindered the growth of it massively and been a headache for many a lord as they can't seem to overcome it.

Now let's begin with the first of the two castles that make up the Karhold. It is the smaller of the two but still large enough to be counted as a moderate keep by itself. Protected by thick stone walls rising as high as any other in addition to a portcullis encased in steel and two massive towers to either side of the entrance. As mentioned, the castle can only attack from this side. Even if the village is taken there is no siege equipment that could reach the walls from the ground to the wall from there. In the first keep you will find large stables that can hold many horses and their feed. It also holds the guest quarters and a small amount of storeroom for food, wood and metal. The basic professions a castle needs can also be found here. A smith, brewer, arrow maker, kennelmaster, the horse keepers and general servants have their rooms and workspaces in this part of the castle. The castle builders even had the ingenious idea to add what amounts to a well in the castle. The bucket instead of going underground will sink into the river and bring up water from there in case of war. They usually do so when it is dark in hopes to keep this a secret from attackers. As one could imagine after making this open knowledge with this book, I will never again set foot into their lands or for that matter hopefully not encounter any members of their house.

The second keep has nearly double the size of the first and is not assailable from any side. The cliffs are to step for anything to scale them to reach the walls. The only entrance to it would be from the bridge connecting it to the first keep. One doesn't have to mention what fate a soldier awaits that tries to attack over the thin but strong bridge against a strong gate with defenders atop of it. Still here is a tip. Arrows. Many many arrows. While it hasn't yet happened that even the first keep was taken to take the second would certainly be an achievement. In fact, because of the castles location a small force can defend it easily and even then, fall back and hold the second keep with only a handful of men. That the second keep is in fact also the location of the actual barracks housing more than enough men even in peacetimes does add to the defensibility of the castle. In addition, the second keep also has a water system like the first and quite frankly massive amounts of storeroom. If the house would ever fill its rooms with firewood, foodstuffs and weapons to the top I would confidently declare that any army but the Lannister's would run out of coin for food before the castle does from their storage. Had it been built in the Reach their harvests would probably even have made such a possible thing to happen but as it stands in the North even filling it halfway is a dream. The second keep unsurprisingly also holds the main hall, a courtyard for training, the maesters quarter and guestrooms for the more privileged visitors.

To end the chapter about the keep we have to mention the location a last time. The keep was built close to the border with the Greycliff's close to the Woodwater. The position was no coincidence. Its position would hinder any army coming from the Greycliff's passing through their lands because of the force the castle could send out to fall into their backs or directly into their lands as retaliation. Through this the Karstark's effectively take out the Greycliff's force in any war and can still send aid to the Umber's in holding the Bolton's back in any war. In addition, was Karhold build close to the Greeneye. The Greeneye is the most populated region of their new granted land and had to be closely monitored for unrest and possible uprisings at the beginning as many of its lords still held loyalties to their former overlords. This could have caused another rebellion had they thought overpowering their new liege lord was possible.

Geography:  
The Karstark lands are divided in the Greeneye, the Greywood forest, the plains similar to the Umber lands, the Last River and the two coasts along the Bay of Seals and Shivering Sea to the north and south. As both the plains and the valley of the Last River remain constant even in the Karstark lands one should simply read about them in the Umber chapter about geography. As such we have to focus on the Greeneye, Greywood and the coasts.

The Bay of Seals under house Karstark is much larger and better developed than that of the Umber's. One of the reasons for this is no doubt the geography of the area. With the Greywood right to their back the people have wood in abundance to use for exploiting the sea. With the lands settled much thicker than those of the Umber's one would think that the seals that give the coast its name would be less predominant. Those would be thinking wrong. The seals have shown themselves to not care to much about human population. In fact, in normal fishing villages they might even beg for fish caught by men instead of hunting for themselves. Aside from seals the coast holds many more riches. Walruses with their ivory tusk make for a good hunt. Not to mention that the shore is rich with fish and all other goods of the sea. In addition, much of the shore is flatland granting easy access for shipping docks and the back land is a good place for raising crops even with the punishing cold winds of the shore.

In comparison to this the coast to the south along the Shivering Sea is pretty much underdeveloped. Compared to the rather flat landings of the northern shore one will find many more rocky bays with sandbanks endangering ships that don't know about their existence. In addition, while like most of the northern shore the waters are rich in fish, they lack in some of the more precious animals the north has to offer. That the coast is more rugged as well with many land tongues reaching out doesn't make it any more pleasant as well. Sailing directly along the coast is not to be recommended in this area for untrained sailors. If you than factor in that the southern coast only has smaller forest along its shore and that much of the smallfolk left the lands when it was granted to the Karstark's and one can see why the northern shore is much more developed.

Onto the Greywood for now. The forest retains the name it held when the Greycliff's still ruled most of the forest as first men kings. As they were grey kings, they needed to fashion all the lands under their control to contain at least a mentioning of grey. The forest made this easy for them as well as it houses predominantly birches with a grey bark. It stretches from the Bay of Seals to parts of the shore by the Shivering Sea to the south. Yet another large forest in the north that dwarfs most in the south. It is no wonder that the north is known for its exports in wood. This forest is also the only northern one where one will find more bears than wolves aside from Bear Isle. As any other forest you will find the usual stuff you would expect in forests. Dears, hogs, squirrels, hares and shadow cats call this forest their own as well and bring hides and meat to the lordship. It is however worthy of mention that the lordships forest holds a wide variety of birds. While the people haven't made a business of it yet the bird population brings many coloured feathers of varied lengths and forms with it. Locals even say that their forest has the most beautiful bird songs of Westeros because of all the different kinds one can find.

Finally, we reached the Greeneye that makes the Karstark's one of the norths strongest houses because of its mere existence. The Greeneye is the large flatland area encased by the Greywood. Its long and narrow shape when first put on a map resembled an eye and with the addition that the lands are extremely fertile for the north and make most crops bloom the name of Greeneye was given to it. By now this piece of flat Greenland has been heavily developed for a northern territory. Where once these lands have held giants and mammoths, as evidently shown by skeletons, in greater numbers than most of Westeros did. Today predominantly domesticated animals, dears and shadow cats call these lands their home together with humans. These lands are unique in the fact that this green gem is completely surrounded by a forest protecting it from harsher winds, regularly receive light ash rains from the Lonely Hills helping with fertility without causing problems for farming and have a stable rain circle that again helps with farming. All around the land is counted among the norths most fertile and has the produce in numbers such would demand.

Lesser Lords:  
While at first many of the lords were not inclined to serve the Karstark's that they viewed as invaders that exterminated or replace their previous overlords. While naturally some of the lords they took over were positively happy with a new overlord many more behaved like any retainers would when their previous overlords still exist and remained ready for rebellion. After some years of tense waiting and good leadership from the Karstark's such an attitude waned and over centuries was replaced with loyalty. That the Karstark's often married their stronger retainers in one way or another in the beginning of their rule also helped immensely. Today their retainers show them the same loyalty any other lord of the north can expect of theirs.

The Flint's of Breakstone Hill should be mentioned first. The original house carrying the name has as mentioned perished and the original keep was reduced to rubble. This house has been resurrected however by the union of house Karstark and house Flint of Widows Watch shortly after the Karstark's were landed. This union was obviously used to appease the Flints and gain a loyal banner in an unstable region while rallying the smallfolk behind a known name. The new keep remained smaller than the original much like their lands but as the house name was reused along with their banner and word the illusion for many remains that the house exists even today in a continuous line of succession. Their lands are close to the plains of the Umber's along the Bay of Seals and contains shore, plains and forest in their domain.

Ruling the town of Tolerton by the mouth of the Woodriver are the Bernefuer's. While quite small for a town this settlement has received a city charter more than a millennia ago and retained it throughout the ages. It is one of the main ports for the wood from the Greywood and processes it into higher quality goods for merchants. As such the town consist of mainly woodworkers and those proficient in the art of the deal (Imagine Trump in Westeros… I dare you not to laugh). The house is actually one of the Karstark's more powerful vassals because of its location and population and was one that retained the grudge of leaving the control of the Greycliff's the longest. Loyalist to the Greycliff's actually assembled under their banner at first. Only after a rebellion seemed completely averted and most of the house that held strong relationships to the Greycliff's died did the house initiate positive relations to the Karstark's.

One of the vassals located in a precarious position had been the Harley's. They hold the keep by the major road passing over the Last River into the Bolton lands. By now the rebellions have stopped but when the family was granted the land (such an important position can't be entrusted to a family that may hold questionable loyalties from a conquest) all pointed to more rebellions in the future. The house still keeps their guard up but at the same time enjoys the peace and tax of such a major roadway produces. It is important that this house can at any time be replaced by the Karstark's as they are forbidden to marry other nobles and as such have no relations that could protect them. The fact that they can't marry other nobles comes from the decision that any lord could be compromised by family relations and as such the lord of this crossing must remain distanced from other nobles.

Located in the Greeneye like many other vassals are the Cavendish. Among them they hold the largest track of land and are among the oldest nobility under the Karstark's. Their banner is a shield with three buck head on it. They once ruled the entire Greeneye as kings before the Greycliff's conquered them. Till this day they do however hold great sway among the other nobles in the Greeneye. If you want to pacify the Greeneye keeping the Cavendish happy goes a long way. Something notable is that in the hour of the wolf a member of house Cavendish served for the short time it was as an adviser of the Small Council. Even today many houses cannot claim the prestige of having a member serving in the Small Council and yet this minor northern noble family was granted the honour for longer than many others can even dream of it.

People:  
The people of these lands are close to those under the Umber's in appearance and temper but do know when to hold back and let colder heads prevail. Even still their tempers run hot even thought they are surrounded by the cold. Of note is that even if there is nearly no difference in their latitude the people here tend to keep more of their fingers than those under the Umber's. I would attribute this to the fact that the Greeneye and Greywood is better suited to rest than the Lonely Hills, plains and Pinewood. It could naturally also be because the people in this territory tend to wear more furs than the others do but those usually only cover the upper/lower body and arms and not hands and face.

Thanks to the presence of the ever fertile Greeneye that sustains the populace of the lordship and leaves a bit of food to sell into other regions the people here face less problems in winter. In addition, the people not only enjoy full bellies but the wood from the forest makes it easy for the populace to heat their homes. It is even common to cut down trees in winter on calm days instead of stockpiling wood before winter. Most likely because in these times the common farmer tries to stock up on dried grass for animals one last time. One can easily imagine that thanks to the duality of the wood and farmland that make up their heartland the people are more numerous than those of other lordships of the same size. This does sadly not hold truth to it because many more of the men tend to leave the lordship in search for better lands. I for my part can't comprehend why such a thing happens but many of the people that leave settle along the western shores and keep the populace there more staple even with loss of live through winter and Ironborn steel.

Army:  
The Karstark's largest levied number of soldiers reached 4.500 and was fielded against a king beyond the wall some centuries ago. As this was a military matter in the north it is natural that the house fielded more men than it would when campaigning in the south. After all the men wouldn't be kept from working the fields for as long and as such more could be levied without impeding the lordships stability. When marching south they tend to field fewer men and yet the last time their armies traversed south of the neck they still numbered 4.000. The number of men the lordship field is strongly dependant on the home situation in the region. Their rather large army in the last march to the south was possible because of a massively successful harvest year and the timing of the campaign in the middle of a long summer. In addition the Greycliff's and Bolton's brought equally large forces and as such more men could be deployed without appearing to be weak to their neighbouring lords. However even in the worst of situations the Karstark's still field a large part of the northern force.

Now onto the composition and the equipment of their forces. While the levies are untrained and undisciplined shortly after being marshalled. The Karstark's have always shown themselves to be remarkable commanders and managed to drill their men into a respectable force by the time they reach the southern kingdoms. This however also means that in any surprise attack in their lands they are hard pressed to field a competent force quickly. The one part of their force that always remains competent are surprisingly their siege engineers. It is not known to me why they keep such a specialised unit so well trained and equipped but they field them nevertheless. Any commander should take note that when ambushing northern forces that the engineers journeying in the back of the Karstark's contingent should be targeted with extreme prejudice for in a siege they could be a right nightmare compared to normal soldiers.

The equipment of the remaining soldiers while nothing to scoff at is at the same time not so remarkable that it need be mentioned. The fact is that with Karhold's massive storeroom capacity much of the needed equipment while old or used is well cared for and in good enough condition to be considered up to standard for any normal army. That much of their forces are equipped with a mace as their primary weapon and sword for secondary use makes them extremely effective against heavily armoured troupes that are fielded for example by the Lannister's. The addition of their shields in their off hands also make archers less of a danger to them and let them advance more securely on enemy entrancements.

Economy:  
As with their standing as one of the norths most powerful houses their economy is rather well of for the north and even the south. Much of this can be attributed to the enormous amounts of wood the south buys from their ports. Theirs are a favourite target for merchants trading up and down the coast of eastern Westeros. While not heavily involved in Essos wood trade the Karstark's enjoy a near monopoly on trade with the pirated on the Step Stones. The fact is that these pirates often travel north to buy wood peacefully and for a reasonable price and in exchange target only those traders traversing the waters of the Step Stones. While clearly an injustice to the south this trade and policy can't be proven with certainty till this day. But let me ask the question. Where else do these pirates get the wood for their fleets from? The southern kingdoms would certainly not sell to them.

Anyway this lucrative wood trade with the addition of a independent and solid local food production lead the Karstark's to accumulate wealth for centuries. Even compared to the south their income is considerably large and befitting of a major lord. However unlike us this wealth is not spend on the feasts and fancy robes but to insure the survival of the next winter. This is a nice way of saying that luxuries cannot be expected to the same extend one would find in the south.

A last thing to note is the disparity between the plains and the rest of the lordship in terms of commerce. Unlike the rest of the lordship these people often don't have the same amount of coin available to them. Mostly because of the fact that neither sea, nor wood nor harvest exist or compares to that of the rest of the lordship. A wise trader will not take the time to traverse these parts of the land simply because it would lose him his money.


End file.
